China expects nationwide broadband by 2020

The "Broadband China" strategy and implementation plan was posted on the central government's website on Saturday.

It outlined the target and timetable for the country to implement nationwide broadband over the next eight years.

The strategy aims to achieve WiFi coverage in key public urban areas by this year and fixed broadband coverage for half of domestic households by 2015.

Meanwhile, families in some developed cities will enjoy a broadband speed of one gigabits per second.

The strategy will be carried out in three phases.

By the end of this year, fiber optic networks and 3G mobile coverage will be facilitated.

Forty percent of the country's households will have access to fixed broadband and 25 percent of Chinese citizens will be able to access third generation (3G) or fourth generation (4G) mobile broadband services.

And broadband coverage will be expanded from next year to 2015.

At that time, fixed broadband coverage of households is expected to increase to 50 percent, while mobile broadband coverage must surpass 32.5 percent.

Urban household broadband speeds should reach 20 Mbps, with some getting even faster service of 100 Mbps. Rural households will have access to speeds of 4Mbps.

By the target year, china will have a fixed broadband user base of 270 million. And Internet surfers will reach 850 million.

The third stage of construction will follow from 2016 to 2020. Broadband network and technology updates will be the key task.

According to the plan, broadband networks are strategic public infrastructure in the new stage of China's economic and social development and will help drive effective investment.

To be continued.