Internet use in China

A post over at The Future of Cities mentions some date on Internet use in China, which is revealing as to the urban/rural split:

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Number of Internet users, 12/2007: 210 million (compare with U.S. at 215 million...getting close)

Penetration: 5% rural/20% urban/45% Beijing, Shanghai

60% of population is rural; vast majority not online, mainly because of “not understanding how to use computer” but also because of lack of infrastructure

3 of every 100 rural households has computer; 47 of every 100 urban households has computer

About 1/3 using commercial Internet cafés

Rural migrant workers are paying highest monthly rates for Internet use: they value it highly and they will drive diffusion

Cost: 900 yuan a year for home broadband, compared with about 600 in Internet café;

Average price of 100Kbps of broadband in China costs $10.85 per month, about 20x US costs

Chinese users pay average 10% of monthly income

Mobile: About one-quarter have ever used mobile to go online in last 6 months, of those about half are between ages of 18-24, and two-thirds of total are men.

Read the original post here
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