Telecommunication in China
Compared to the European Union, China has a slight downturn in the development of telecommunications. Under the country code +86, there were a total of 1.88 bn connections in 2020. Among them were 1.70 bn million mobile phones, which corresponds to an average of 1.2 per person. In the EU, this figure is 1.2 mobile phones per person.The expansion of the broadband Internet in China is roughly equal to the EU average. Around 71% of all residents have access to the Internet. Approximately 34% have their own fast Internet connection, which is at least faster than the previous ISDN (more than 2048 kbit/s).
With about 20.60 m webhosts, China is below the world's average by population.
Back to overview: China
Development of telephone and internet connections
With an average download speed of 178.55 Mbit/second for fixed-network broadband internet, China ranked 17th in an international comparison. The upload rate of only 45.84 Mbit/second was significantly lower (46th place). The quality of the Internet, consisting of signal fluctuations (jitter) and latency, is very far ahead at 20th place.In mobile internet, i.e. on tablets and smartphones, China comes 5th with a download speed of 153.09 Mbit/second. The upload speed of around 30 Mbit was only enough for 1st place.
The "Speedtest Global Index" published regularly by Ookla is based on several million individual measurements in Mai 2021 from 180 countries.
The following diagrams show the development of the various telephone and Internet connections as a percentage of the country's population. Values above 100% mean that, on average, every inhabitant has more than one connection.
Access to the Internet in China from 1990 - 2020
Broadband internet in China 2000 - 2020
Landlines 1990 - 2020
Mobile phones 1990 - 2020
| Distribution in 2020 | China Total | China percent | EU Total | EU percent |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Internet users | 990.48 m | 70.64 % | 393.46 m | 87.87 % |
| Broadband users | 483.55 m | 34.49 % | 162.67 m | 36.33 % |
| Landlines | 181.91 m | 12.97 % | 159.99 m | 35.73 % |
| Mobile cellulars | 1.70 bn | 120.99 % | 541.96 m | 121.03 % |