Broadband coverage reaches 98 pct of rural Chinese villages

BEIJING - The penetration rates of fiber optic and 4G networks have both exceeded 98 percent in China's administrative villages, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

China's telecom universal services have promoted internet applications including tele-education, telemedicine and e-commerce in rural China, said MIIT chief engineer Zhang Feng at a seminar on telecom universal service and ICT for poverty alleviation.

The services had enabled more people in remote areas to enjoy equal access to basic public services, Zhang said.

The MIIT has launched five batches of pilot projects since the end of 2015, covering 130,000 administrative villages in 27 provinces with fiber network and extending 4G connections by building 36,000 4G base stations, explained Wen Ku, an official with the MIIT.

Statistics showed that in the pilot rural area, the network speed, with the average download rate exceeding 70M per second, is basically as fast as that in Chinese urban cities.

China will expand universal telecom service support and improve school network access in rural and remote areas, said Wen.