Nearly all Chinese netizens accessed internet by mobile phone

Almost all Chinese netizens have accessed the internet by mobile phone, said a report released Friday.

In the report on the country's cyberspace developments, issued by the China Internet Network Information Center, the nation has had 854 million netizens by the end of June, 25.98 million more than the figure in December.

Of the total, 99.1 percent connected to the internet by mobile phones, the report said.

It showed the biggest proportion of netizens, about 65 percent, fell into the 10 to 39 age range.

The report also said that by June, 639 million netizens had shopped online and 421 million had used to the internet to order food.

The time netizens spent online continued rising, up to 27.9 hours a week, while the most frequently used smartphone applications were those involving instant messaging, such as WeChat, it added.

As the country has seen fast developments in cyberspace, it also strengthened efforts against online attacks to ensure netizens can surf the internet in a safer environment.

In the first six months of this year, more than 55 percent of netizens said they did not encounter online threats, including online fraud and personal data breaches, according to the report.

In addition, cyberspace-related administrations nationwide have increased administrative punishments to those improperly or illegally operating websites or smartphone applications, said Xia Xueping, an official from China's Cyberspace Administration, the country's top internet affairs regulator.

From April to June, 2,899 illegal websites were identified, revoked of their business licenses or shut down under our crackdown with telecommunication departments, he said.

A total of 377 cases were sent to the police for further investigation for suspicion on crimes, he added.