China's internet service sector maintains growth amid epidemic

China's internet service and related sectors continued to expand in the first two months of 2020 as strong demands for online working and education products underpinned growth amid the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The sectors' total revenue amounted to 131.1 billion yuan (about $18.4 billion) during the January-February period, up 4.5 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

Information services were the largest revenue contributor for the sectors, garnering an income of 96.6 billion yuan and accounting for 73.7 percent of the total revenue.

Companies offering online platform services saw revenue rise 10.6 percent year-on-year to 23.2 billion yuan.

The sectors' business profit came in at 9.51 billion yuan, down 19.7 percent from the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the sectors' spending on research and development reached 8 billion yuan, up 10.6 percent.

The internet sector has become a key component of China's "new economy" as the country undergoes a shift to growth driven more by technology and consumption.

The MIIT statistics cover enterprises with annual revenue from internet services of above 3 million yuan in the previous year.