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4G Users in China Rising as Govt Vows to Upgrade Broadband Speed

| May 12, 2015 07:57 AM EDT

Passengers in a train try to access the Web using their mobile phones.

Chinese authorities have reported the continued growth of 4G users with the addition of 200 million users to the service this year, according to an article published on english.cri.cn.

As this developed, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology pledged to increase its investment in the 4G sector this year to meet needs for more users.

The report said that the government has assured broadband users that the speeds of connection will be upgraded to 8MB/sec.

Wen Ku, an official with the ministry, said that the goal will be achieved with more infrastructure upgrades, which are mostly needed in residential communities.

"I think that property management services in residential areas and property owners should support more telecom companies to provide services in residential communities, to allow more people to enjoy new technology by replacing old copper wire with fiber. This will also create competition for service providers, giving consumers more choices and lower prices," Wen remarked.

Last month, Premier Li Keqiang had asked telecom companies to provide better speeds for online connection as well as the reduction of fee involving cellphone data plans.

The report said that clients had long complained of slow speeds and high fees, which they blamed on the country's three main telecom operators, namely China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom.

According to the ministry, the number of mobile users in China has reached 1.29 billion, which accounts for over 90 percent of the population.

The ministry said that mobile broadband subscribers now make up nearly half of China's total mobile phone market. Government data showed that 20 million new customers have signed up for 4G over the first two months of 2015, and 4G subscribers now make up more than 10 percent of China's mobile market for the first time ever.

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