By Prensa Latina,
Beijing : The number of people online in China reached 298 million by the end of 2008, placing that country first in the world.
The Asian nation beat the United States in number of Internet users this past June 2008.
A report from the Center of Information of the Internet Network in China (CNNIC) indicated that the number of people online by the end of last year represents an increase of 41.9 percent in comparison with 2007.
The entity guaranteed that more than 90 percent of the Internet users surf through the net using broadband connections.
By comparison with the total population of China, which exceeds 1.3 billion inhabitants, the subscribers’ rate was about 22.6 percent until December 31.
The data about Internet is just one of the clues on the development in telecommunications in this Asian country over the last 20 years.
The citizens of China already have nearly 600 million cell phones, the highest number in the world, while regular telephones include almost 400 million customers.
Last week authorities licensed to many telecommunication companies so they could set up telephone networks forthird generation mobile phones.