103 million now using the internet

The number of internet users on the mainland grew by 9 million in the first half of the year to reach 103 million. The growth represented an increase of 18.4 per cent over the same period last year in a market that still had potential for vast growth, China Daily said yesterday. The figures came from the China Internet Network Information Centre.

"While more than 67 per cent of the US population, about 135 million, have access to the internet, in China the percentage is only about 7.9 per cent," it said. State media had previously forecast that 120 million mainlanders would be surfing the Web by the end of the year.

Nearly 20 per cent of mainland internet users had shopped online, and internet-based transactions in the six months of the year could total about 10 billion yuan, the newspaper said.