China to spend $182 billion to boost Internet by end of 2017

China will spend more than $182 billion to boost Internet speeds by the end of 2017, a top government body said, as Beijing moves towards a more service-driven economy to boost growth. The State Council said the government will invest more than 430 billion yuan ($69.3 billion) this year on network construction, with at least another 700 billion yuan ($112.8 billion) spent over the following two years. The goal is to accelerate the development of fibre optic broadband and high speed 4G mobile networks, the governing body said on its website.

It is difficult to imagine how underdeveloped our information infrastructure is.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang

China ranked 82nd in the world for average Internet connection speed, slower than Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan, according to cloud computing services provider Akamai’s State of the Internet report for the fourth quarter of 2014. Improving that standing is crucial for the world’s second largest economy, which is experiencing the slowest growth in decades and is seeking to diversify away from low-tech manufacturing and development. China’s three state-owned wireless carriers are also on board. Last week, China Mobile Ltd, China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd and China Telecom Corp Ltd said they would cut mobile data prices and boost data speeds this year, potentially spurring a mass migration of customers to more lucrative 4G contracts.

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