China's netizens number crosses 500 million

China's netizens' numbers crossed the 500 million, a major milestone in the world's largest web market.

China's netizens' base reached a little more than 500 million in November, last year, Gao Xinmin, the vice chairman of the Internet Society of China said at Internet Industry Annual Conference 2011 held in Beijing.

He said that according to statistics by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC), China's Internet penetration rate reached 37.7 per cent, up 3.4 percentage points compared to that of the end of 2010,

state run People's Daily Online reported on Friday.

The number of the Chinese households connecting with the Internet reached a little more than 155 million, up 18.6 per cent compared to that of 2010, it said.

China has 340 mobile phone netizens, accounting for about 65.5 per cent of the total Chinese netizen population, Gao said.

China has nearly a billion mobile phone users fetching a revenue of about USD 90 billion.