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117m Chinese surf Internet via mobile phones, up 113%

By Li Weitao and Wang Xing (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2009-01-13 13:33

China's mobile Internet population surged a whopping 113 percent in 2008 and could see explosive growth in the coming years, according to a quasi-government organization.

Related readings:  CNNIC: China had 298 million netizens by Dec 2008   234 million Chinese get news via Internet

The number of Chinese people who used their mobile phones to surf the Internet hit 117 million, said a report by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC).

Mobile Internet has become a major tool for many people to access the Web, CNNIC said, adding the number of mobile Internet users could grow even faster after the country awarded three telephone operators the licences to build the high-speed mobile phone networks.

The Chinese government last week gave the green light to operators to deploy the third generation (3G) mobile phone networks, which offers higher speed for downloading and Internet surfing.