China to Boost Information Consumption

China issued series policies to boost information consumption.  Following the Circular of the State Council on Printing and Distributing the Broadband China Strategy and its Implementation Plan (Documents of the State Council [2013] No.31), the State Council issued Several Opinions of the State Council on Promoting Information Consumption and Boosting Domestic Demand (Documents of the State Council [2013] No.32). Surprisingly, China's central government issued successively within one week two state policies on information sector. And the document will serve as a guidance for related Chinese companies to boost the information consumption.

Due to economic recession and difficulties, China has to step up its effort to boost domestic information consumption and make the sector a new driver for economic growth.

Promoting information consumption, a field that involves e-commerce business, the Internet and cloud computing  technology, can effectively drive demand, create new sources of economic growth and help upgrade  consumption.

China aims to boost public and household spending on the IT industry by more than 20 percent annually through  2015, the document said. By that time, the nation's information  consumption volume is expected to  exceed  3.2 trillion yuan ($522 billion), driving new output in related industries of 1.2 trillion yuan.

The country's e-commerce sector is expected to experience rapid growth as well.  By 2015, the transaction volume  on China's e-commerce platforms is targeted to be 18 trillion yuan, of which 3 trillion yuan is expected to come from online retail transactions.

The guidance also calls for significant improvement in the country's information infrastructure. By 2015, the  broadband access speed in Chinese city households should reach  20 Mbps, and rural households are expected  to have a broadband speed of 4 Mbps.

According to the guidance, Chinese information sector will invest and procure more telecom and information products and services at home and abroad.

For a full English version of the guidance, Several Opinions of the State Council on Promoting Information Consumption and Boosting Domestic Demand (Documents of the State Council [2013] No.32), please here.