Читать книгу The Emerging Markets Handbook - Pran Tiku - Страница 113

China ranks 34th on the 2012 Global Innovation Index, higher than all the other BRIC countries. Although China has gained a reputation for copycat inventions it has historically been an innovation superpower with inventions including the compass, gunpowder and the printing press. With support from policy makers China’s R&D spending hit $159 billion in 2012 and is growing at 20% a year.

China’s minister of Industry and Information Technology has announced plans to have broadband coverage in China hit 250 million users by the end of 2015. This is part of the 2013 Broadband China project, which aims to increase FTTH (fibre-to-the-home) coverage by more than 35 million households in 2013. The blog Tech Crunch reports that as of December 2012, China had 564 million internet users. According to a report by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) this is a penetration rate of 40%.

China is already the world’s biggest mobile market with 1 billion users and it has passed the 500 million mark in terms of smartphone users. According to On Device Research, 38% of Chinese internet users access online services solely from mobile devices. Exhibit 9 shows growth in China’s mobile penetration. This growth in mobile penetration has made China the largest smartphone consumer in the world. This could be a precursor to a robust digital and e commerce economy in China.