China has a problem, and it’s growing more troublesome by the day. Simply put, the country’s markets are progressing faster than its infrastructure. A perfect example would be the rapidly growing number of Internet users. As more and more people connect to the Internet at home or on their mobile device, the country’s already congested and spotty networks are being strained to the limit. That’s why China has announced that it plans to spend nearly $200 billion on improving its Internet by the end of 2017.
China will spend more than $182 billion to boost Internet speeds by the end of 2017, a top government body said, as Beijing moves towards a more service-driven economy to boost growth. The State Council said the government will invest more than 430 billion yuan ($69.3 billion) this year on network construction, with at least another 700 billion yuan ($112.8 billion) spent over the following two years. The goal is to accelerate the development of fiber optic broadband and high speed 4G mobile networks, the governing body said on its website. China ranked 82nd in the world for average Internet connection speed, slower than Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan, according to cloud computing services provider Akamai’s State of the Internet report for the fourth quarter of 2014. Improving that standing is crucial for the world’s second largest economy, which is experiencing the slowest growth in decades and is seeking to diversify away from low-tech manufacturing and development. On Tuesday, China unveiled a vision for the next stage of its economic ascent, moving from low-tech manufacturing to advanced industry in areas such as space, e-commerce, green energy and bioengineering by 2025.
