City Speeding Up Wi-Fi Coverage

SHENZHEN plans to accelerate free Wi-Fi coverage in crowed public places, according to new city regulations intended to boost the city’s information technology efforts.

The designated crowded public places include parks, culture and sports venues, checkpoints, transportation hubs and administration service venues.

The government pays for the Wi-Fi service.

Consumer spending related to information consumption in Shenzhen is expected to reach 500 billion yuan (US$82 billion) in 2015.

Information consumption mainly refers to local consumption and use of telecommunication services, software technology services and information terminals, the paper said.

The total income of telecommunication services in Shenzhen exceeded 32.2 billion yuan last year, while local software technology services generated about 120 billion yuan. Income from consumption and use of information terminals, including mobile phones, computers and televisions, reached almost 300 billion yuan.

In addition, the city plans to speed up development of cross-border e-business and the establishment of an electronic database for residents’ health records.

The size of Shenzhen’s information industry was almost 1.5 trillion yuan last year, accounting for one-eighth of the industry’s total in China. The industry’s added value accounted for 27 percent of the city’s GDP in 2012, local government officials said at a Wednesday meeting.