NANJING -- The volume of the digital economy in east China's Jiangsu province hit 4 trillion yuan (around $600 billion) in 2019, accounting for over 40 percent of the province's GDP, according to local authorities.

Jiangsu's digital industry has maintained steady growth this year. In the first three quarters, its electronic information manufacturing sector's operating income rose over 6 percent year-on-year to 1.9 trillion yuan, said Chi Yu, deputy director of the provincial department of industry and information technology.

The software and information services sector achieved an operating revenue of 774 billion yuan, an annual increase of around 6 percent and ranking high in the country, Chi noted.

Jiangsu has in recent years been speeding up the construction of its information infrastructure. By the end of September, telecom enterprises in the province had invested 10.8 billion yuan in the construction of 5G networks, and built and opened 63,000 5G base stations, bringing the province's total to 68,000.

Jiangsu will improve its favorable policy environment for the high-quality development of the digital economy, said Qi Biao, deputy director of the provincial development and reform commission.