Telecommunications
Main article: Telecommunications in China
China currently has the largest number of active cellphones of any country in the world, with over 1 billion users by February 2012.[362] It also has the world's largest number of internet and broadband users,[363] with over 688 million internet users as of 2016, equivalent to around half of its population.[364] The national average broadband connection speed is 9.46 MB/s, ranking China 91st in the world in terms of internet speed.[364] As of July 2013, China accounts for 24% of the world's internet-connected devices.[365] Since 2011 China is the nation with the most installed telecommunication bandwidth in the world. By 2014, China hosts more than twice as much national bandwidth potential than the U.S., the historical leader in terms of installed telecommunication bandwidth (China: 29% versus US:13% of the global total).[366]

China Telecom and China Unicom, the world's two largest broadband providers, accounted for 20% of global broadband subscribers. China Telecom alone serves more than 50 million broadband subscribers, while China Unicom serves more than 40 million.[367] Several Chinese telecommunications companies, most notably Huawei and ZTE, have been accused of spying for the Chinese military.[368]

China is developing its own satellite navigation system, dubbed Beidou, which began offering commercial navigation services across Asia in 2012,[369] and is planned to offer global coverage by 2020.