CNNIC, the China Internet Network Information Center, released its 23rd statistical report on the internet development in China in January. The report found there were 13.572 million registered .CN domain names, the highest of any country code Top Level Domain (ccTLD) in the world. Today there are approximately 14.5 million .CN domain names.The report notes China is not only the country with the most ccTLD domains registered, but also has the most internet users (298 million) and the most broadband users (279 million).In 2008, China overtook Germany (.DE) to become the number one ccTLD with .CN domain name registrations increasing by 50.8 per cent in 2008, while the number of websites with a .CN domain name increased by 120.3 per cent.Other highlights from the report include:
- the number of Chinese internet users grew by 41.9 per cent in 2008, with the internet penetration rate reaching 22.6 per cent which is slightly higher than the global average of 21.9 per cent
- 90.6% of the Chinese Internet users (270 million) accessed the internet via broadband
- internet access by mobile phones and other mobile devices doubled in 2008 to 117 million people
- internet users in rural areas of China increased by 31.9 million to 84.6 million people in 2008, a growth in excess of 60 per cent, far exceeding the growth among urban internet users.
The report is available to download from:
www.cnnic.net.cn/html/Dir/2009/03/23/5512.htm