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China to become biggest broadband user: Gates
(CRI/AP)
Updated: 2006-01-28 13:37 China is set to become the biggest user of
broadband in the world, Bill Gates said Friday.
"No one will
catch up (except) maybe India in 50 years," the chairman and co-founder of
Microsoft Corp. said at the World Economic Forum's annual meeting.
He said that
despite the disparity between China's urban and rural areas, the country was on
track toward reducing poverty, meaning more people would be able to afford
broadband Internet access.
"The greatest
surprise in poverty reduction ... is China," Gates said.
China's Internet
population, already the world's second largest after the United States, rose to
111 million in 2005, according to the official China Internet Network
Information Center.
Earlier this
month, the agency said the number of people with broadband Internet access rose
by more than 50 percent compared with 2004, to 64 million.
China encourages
Internet use for education and business.
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