Regulators vow to boost IT sectors

The regulatory body of China's information technology market on Tuesday pledged to nurture fresh demand in the e-commerce and information service sectors.

The government is emphasizing IT-related sectorsincluding broadband Internet, telecom infrastructure and serviceswhen drawing up this year's development plan, said Mao Weimin, vice-minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

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The ministry set the annual growth rate of industries above a designated scale to 9.5 percent for this year. The rate was 9.7 percent in 2013.

"The growing demand in the IT market could become a powerful economy booster this year," said Mao. He also announced the ministry will further ease control over the charges of telecom services and third-party data storage businesses.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, the three major telecom operators achieved 1.17 trillion yuan ($193 billion) in revenue in 2013, an increase of 8.7 percent year-on-year.

The software sector witnessed 3.13 trillion yuan in revenue, a jump of 24.6 percent. "We will combine supply optimization and demand nurturing to expand consumption demand and upgrade the industrial supply," said a statement released by the ministry.

The annual turnover of China's information technology and telecommunication industries is set to hit $602.3 billion by 2020.

A strategy called Broadband China will be carried out at an accelerated rate by moving ahead with a project aimed at building 100 megabyte fiber-optic connectivity in urban areas and speeding up the commercialization of the next-generation Internet industry.

About 78.8 percent of Chinese people who use the Internet were connected to 4 MB or above broadband levels by 2013, said the ministry.

Faster and wider Internet coverage could help to build an even bigger online shopping market, analysts said.

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