Chinese Internet stats, some basics circa late 2007

I put this together for a talk today and thought I’d share it for those who haven’t read the latest CNNIC report (#21) or who don’t feel like combing through it for some of the basics.  The data comes mostly from that report, but also a bit from ESWN and ars technica.

Number of Internet users, 12/2007: 210 million (compare with U.S. at 215 million…getting close)
Penetration: 5% rural/20% urban/45% Beijing, Shanghai

• 60% of population is rural; vast majority not online, mainly because of “not understanding how to use computer” but also because of lack of infrastructure

• 3 of every 100 rural households has computer; 47 of every 100 urban households has computer
• About 1/3 using commercial Internet cafés
• Rural migrant workers are paying highest monthly rates for Internet use: they value it highly and they will drive diffusion

Cost: 900 yuan a year for home broadband, compared with about 600 in Internet café;

• Average price of 100Kbps of broadband in China costs $10.85 per month, about 20x US costs
• Chinese users pay average 10% of monthly income

Mobile: About one-quarter have ever used mobile to go online in last 6 months, of those about half are between ages of 18-24, and two-thirds of total are men.