China becomes No. 1 in DSL

http://www.chinaview.cn 2004-03-16 10:25:20

BEIJING, Mar. 16 (Xinhuanet) — Chinese digital subscriber line population, an index of a country’s broadband level, surpassed Japan as No. 1 in the world, thanks to a booming online entertainment industry.

DSL users in China hit 19.15 million last year, five times the level last year, according to a latest industry report from the United States.

Japan had the world’s second-biggest DSL population with 10.27 million by the end of the year, followed by the United States with 9.11 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 operator China Telecom Corp is the major 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 provides users a download speed of 50 kilobits to 100 kilobits a second – 10 and 20 times faster than the dial-up speed.

Users can download music, films and large data files in a short time.

Internet game fans help to boost the revenue of online game operators such as Shanghai Shanda Internet Development Corp and The 9com Computer Technology Consulting Co Ltd.

Previously, users were limited to dial-up connections and could only perform smaller 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, jumping 337 percent compared with that of 2002.

Shanghai Telecom, the local branch of the company, charged users 130 yuan (US$15.66) as a monthly flat rate.

“We have provided various content online 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.

:rolleyes:

(Shanghai Daily news)