China’s digital subscriber line population, an index of a country’s broadband diffusion level, has zipped past Japan’s as No. 1 in the world, thanks to a booming online entertainment industry
DSL users in China hit 19.2 million last year, five times previous year's level, according to a recent industry report from the United States.
Japan had the world’s second-biggest DSL population with 10.3 million by the end of the year, followed by the United States with 9.1 million.
DSL systems based on the fixed-line phone network are the standard of broadband Internet access in China.
The country’s largest fixed-line phone company, China Telecom Corp., is the main service provider.
“The surging broadband population in China came from the development of the domestic online entertainment industry,” said Zou Lei, an analyst at IResearch Inc., a local Internet consulting firm.
“Currently, Chinese Internet users can choose many more kinds of services and games online, so they are eager to have a higher Internet access speed to enjoy the various services.”
Broadband service offers users a download speed of 50 kilobits to 100 kilobits a second -- 10 and 20 times the speed of a dial-up connection. Thus, users can quickly download music, films and large data files.
Internet game fans have boosted the revenues of online game operators such as Shanghai Shanda Internet Development Corp. and 9com Computer Technology Consulting Co. Ltd.
Previously, users were limited to dial-up connections and could only perform simpler tasks online, such as reading news and receiving e-mails, because of the limited Internet access speed.
China Telecom sold 7 million DSL sets last year, a 337-percent leap from the 2002 figure.
Shanghai Telecom, a local branch of the company, charged users 130 yuan (US$15.66) as a monthly flat rate.
“We have provided a variety of online content specifically for our ADSL users, including music, news, film and financial services. That will help us attract more users this year,” said Ye Lisheng, marketing director of the online content department.
(eastday.com March 16, 2004)
