How can 1.079 billion netizens share a beautiful digital life—— Perspective of the 52nd Statistical Report on the Development of Internet in China 28 | Wang Sibei | Xinhua News Agency | Title: | Statistical Report on the Development of Internet in China

Beijing, August 28th (Xinhua) - How can 1.079 billion netizens share a beautiful digital life—— See through the 52nd Statistical Report on the Development of China's Internet

Xinhua News Agency reporter Wang Sibei

On the 28th, CNNIC released the 52nd Statistical Report on the Development of China's Internet in Beijing. The report shows that by June 2023, the number of Internet users in China has reached 1.079 billion, and the Internet penetration rate has reached 76.4%; The construction of digital infrastructure is further accelerating, and the foundation of the Internet of Things is constantly being strengthened; All kinds of Internet applications have continued to develop, and the number of users of many kinds of applications has grown

What new trends are reflected behind the data, and how can 1.079 billion netizens share a beautiful digital life?

Digital benefits for the people are more tangible

The report points out that as of June this year, the total number of mobile phone base stations in China has reached 11.29 million, of which 2.937 million have been built and opened up, accounting for 26% of the total number of mobile base stations. The accumulated mobile Internet traffic reached 142.3 billion GB, up 14.6% year on year.

"The number of users accessing mobile Internet and gigabit optical fiber network in China has continued to grow, the average online duration of Internet users has continued to increase, and both mobile and fixed broadband download rates have improved." Wang Changqing, director of the Internet Development Research Department of the China Internet Network Information Statistics Center, said in issuing the report that the Internet service experience and user acquisition have further improved.

Rural network infrastructure has basically achieved full coverage, and new forms and models of rural digital economy are constantly growing. "The number of rural Internet users in China has exceeded 300 million, and the 5G network covers all prefecture level cities, counties and urban areas. In the first half of the year, the retail sales of rural Internet reached 1.12 trillion yuan. The rural online education penetration rate was 22.5%, and the rural online medical penetration rate was 22.8%. Digital services for the benefit of the people have been steadily promoted, and the Internet has helped to show a new atmosphere in rural areas." Wang Changqing said.

The report also pointed out that the ability of information accessibility has been continuously enhanced, and the aging transformation of Internet applications has been further promoted. "1735 popular mainstream websites and mobile apps have completed aging adaptation. A number of outstanding transformation cases have been popularized and applied across the country, continuing to warm the" slow crowd "in the" fast era "," said Mao Wei, vice president of the China Internet Association.

Smart life has more warmth

The report shows that as of June this year, three basic telecommunications companies have developed 2.123 billion cellular IoT terminal users, a net increase of 279 million compared to December 2022, accounting for 55.4% of the total number of mobile network terminal connections. The foundation of the Internet of Things is constantly being consolidated. 5G applications have been integrated into 60 major categories of the national economy, accelerating their expansion and deepening into key areas such as industry, healthcare, education, and transportation.

From the interconnection of everyone to the interconnection of all things, the digital scene ecology is constantly enriching.

On the one hand, the application scenarios are constantly updated, bringing new experiences to smart living. "The proportion of people who have used personal wearable devices to access the internet, smart home devices to access the internet, and car networking devices to access the internet are 22.5%, 21.4%, and 16.8%, respectively." Wang Changqing said that smart devices effectively improve the happiness index of digital life.

On the other hand, the supply of high-quality content continues to strengthen, promoting the construction of a good online content ecosystem.

"The report points out that as of June, the number of online video users in China was 1.044 billion, with a user utilization rate of 96.8%." Zhou Jie, Deputy Secretary General of the China Network Audiovisual Program Service Association, believes that major online video platforms continue to adhere to high-quality content creation, explore the path of film and television industrialization, and the development trend of the online video industry is improving.

Zhou Jie said that various platforms continue to strengthen the creation of high-quality content, continuously improve the quality of programs, and create a batch of thoughtful, meaningful, positive, and high-quality programs. They fully leverage the exemplary and leading role of excellent works to drive user stickiness. At the same time, the competition between long and short video platforms has shifted towards cooperation, promoting a win-win situation among platforms, users, and creators.

Continuous improvement of digital skills among netizens

Zhang Xinhong, Chief Information Officer of the National Information Center, believes that as a fundamental, strategic, and pioneering work in building a strong cyber country and a digital China, enhancing the digital literacy and skills of the entire population can help bridge the digital divide, promote high-quality development of the digital economy and digital society, and enhance the digital experience and sense of achievement of the people.

According to the report, in the first half of 2023, various digital products and services accelerated their penetration, and the level of digital skills mastered by netizens steadily improved. As of June, 86.6% of netizens have mastered at least one basic digital skill; 60.4% of netizens have mastered at least one intermediate digital skill, an increase of 2.1 percentage points from December 2022.

At the same time, local governments have taken multiple measures to strengthen policy guidance from the environmental side, enhance publicity and education from the demand side, lower the threshold for use from the supply side, and promote key groups to gradually master digital skills.

Wang Changqing said that as of June, 98.5% of student netizens have mastered at least one basic digital skill, 72.8% of netizens aged 50 to 59 have mastered at least one basic digital skill, and 54.6% of netizens aged 60 and above have mastered at least one basic digital skill.

"With the steady improvement of digital skills, netizens will better share the beautiful future of the digital age," said Zhang Xinhua.