China's mobile data traffic up during Spring Festival

BEIJING -- China's mobile data traffic rose during Spring Festival holiday as more people chose to send their greeting through mobile platforms.

Over the holiday, mobile data traffic jumped 236 percent from the same period last year to 849,000 TB, according to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

On Feb 15, the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year, mobile data traffic was up 245 percent to 121,000 TB.

The Chinese Lunar New Year is traditionally a time for family gatherings and blessings, and with the increasing penetration of digital devices and improved Internet infrastructure, more people are using mobile phones to socialize.

Data from tech giant Tencent's popular social media platform WeChat showed some 230 billion messages were sent via the app from Feb 15 to Feb 20, with 768 million people using the Hongbao, or red packet, service.