China's IT-related consumption hits 1.38 trln yuan in January-May

BEIJING, July 5 (Xinhua) -- China consumed 1.38 trillion yuan (223.3 billion U.S. dollars) in information technology-related products and services in the first five months of the year, up 19.8 percent year on year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said Friday.

The consumption of communications services, software technology services and information technology terminal products rose 8.7 percent, 25.9 percent and 25.7 percent year on year, respectively.

The e-commerce sector's total transaction volume increased 46 percent from the same period last year to reach 4.01 trillion yuan, the MIIT said in an online statement.

Mobile Internet data consumption also surged due to the growing popularity of instant messaging applications, particularly those used on smartphones.

Mobile instant messaging applications like WeChat have garnered a userbase of 486 million people thus far, contributing to a 60.9-percent increase in mobile Internet data traffic and a 56.8-percent rise in related revenues during the January-May period, according to MIIT data.

We Recommend:
Chinese investors' happiness and sadness	Top 10 luxury villas of China in 2013	Soft gold -- gambiered Guangdong silk
China's 1st intelligent high-speed train tested	Glamorous models pose at Shenyang auto show	Top 10 cities where home prices are set to soar
High-end singles party attracts swarm of girls	Beijing's taxicabs in 30 years	12th Int'l Automobile Industry Expo kicks off