November 12, 2013
According to reports attributed to information from Xinhua News Agency, the number of domains using China's .CN extension has now exceeded 8 million.
While 8 million may not seem like many in a country with a population of over 1.35 billion; the growth is significant when viewed in terms of recent times.
A July report from China Internet Network Information Center (PDF) states that the end of June 2013, there were 7.81 million .CN domain names registered. The growth between then and now (approximately 4 months) is in the region of 119,000.
At the end of July, .CN names accounted for 53.1% of all domains registered by residents of China, with .COM names accounting for 38.2%. The total number of domain names registered by Chinese residents, businesses and organisations at the end of June was 14.71 million.
It wasn't until around mid-last year that Chinese citizens or organisations "bearing civil responsibilities" became able to apply to register a domain under the country's ccTLD extension.
What China may lack in terms of .CN domain name saturation (for now), it certainly makes up for in Internet users.
By the end of June 2013, their numbers had swelled to 591 million - far exceeding the USA's total of around 250 million. However, the USA still leads with penetration; 81% vs. China's 42.3%.*
Mobile Internet usage is also blossoming in China with 464 million mobile web users by the end of June, growth of nearly 48 million since the end of last year.
Access to the Internet is also opening up to less well-to-do residents thanks to decreasing prices. Internet users with monthly income of RMB500 and below (around AUD $87) and the unemployed account for 14.9% and 8.9% of online users respectively.
*Trivia: the country with the highest Internet usage penetration is the Falkland Islands at 96.9%
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