China Internet users soar to 123 million despite new curbs

Jul 19, 2006, 11:00 GMT

Beijing - China on Wednesday said it had an estimated 123 million Internet users at the end of June, a rise of 19 per cent from June 2005, despite the government increasing its controls over online content.

An estimated 77 million users had access to broadband Internet connections, the state-run Chinese Internet Network Information Centre said in a report posted on its website.

About 90,000 new websites opened in the first six months of this year, bringing China's total to 788,400 registered sites, the report said.

China's estimated number of Internet users, most of whom are younger people living in relatively affluent urban areas, puts it second only to the United States.

The 123 million users represent 9.5 per cent of China's population of 1.3 billion.

China's internet police block hundreds of websites that are deemed politically sensitive and try to keep content broadly in line with the ruling Communist Party's ideology.

Last month, the government said it would submit blogs and search engines to 'strict supervision', and ensure that all websites were officially registered.

Tens of thousands of small internet cafes have been closed, with the government favouring large chains that can be relied upon to monitor and control online activity.

Evidence from postings on websites has also been used in the conviction of several dissidents in recent years.