China's telecom industry reports steady expansion in 2022

BEIJING -- China's telecommunications industry logged steady expansion in 2022, with emerging business and new infrastructure rapidly growing, official data showed.

The revenue of firms in the sector topped 1.58 trillion yuan ($233.38 billion), up 8 percent year-on-year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Of the total, the revenue of emerging business such as internet data center, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things rose 32.4 percent year-on-year, driving the revenue of telecom business to increase by 5.1 percentage points, the ministry said.

Investment in the sector climbed 3.3 percent year-on-year to 419.3 billion yuan in 2022.

China's 5G base stations exceeded 2.31 million at the end of 2022, accounting for 60 percent of the global total, including about 887,000 built in 2022. 5G mobile network users reached 561 million, accounting for one third of China's mobile phone users, according to the ministry.