Telephones - fixed lines:
total subscriptions: 206.624 million
[see also: Telephones - fixed lines - total subscriptions country ranks ]
subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 15 (July 2016 est.)
[see also: Telephones - fixed lines - subscriptions per 100 inhabitants country ranks ]
country comparison to the world: 2

Telephones - mobile cellular:
total: 1,364.934 million
[see also: Telephones - mobile cellular - total country ranks ]
subscriptions per 100 inhabitants: 99 (July 2016 est.)
[see also: Telephones - mobile cellular - subscriptions per 100 inhabitants country ranks ]
country comparison to the world: 1

Telephone system:
general assessment: domestic and international services are available for private use; unevenly distributed domestic system serves principal cities, industrial centers, and many towns; China continues to develop its telecommunications infrastructure; China in the summer of 2008 began a major restructuring of its telecommunications industry, resulting in the consolidation of its six telecom service operators to three, China Telecom, China Mobile, and China Unicom, each providing both fixed-line and mobile services (2016)
domestic: interprovincial fiber-optic trunk lines and cellular telephone systems have been installed; mobile-cellular subscribership is increasing rapidly; the number of Internet users now over 50% of the population; a domestic satellite system with several earth stations is in place (2016)
international: country code - 86; a number of submarine cables provide connectivity to Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and the US; satellite earth stations - 7 (5 Intelsat - 4 Pacific Ocean and 1 Indian Ocean; 1 Intersputnik - Indian Ocean region; and 1 Inmarsat - Pacific and Indian Ocean regions) (2012)

Broadcast media:
all broadcast media are owned by, or affiliated with, the Communist Party of China or a government agency; no privately owned TV or radio stations; state-run Chinese Central TV, provincial, and municipal stations offer more than 2,000 channels; the Central Propaganda Department lists subjects that are off limits to domestic broadcast media with the government maintaining authority to approve all programming; foreign-made TV programs must be approved prior to broadcast; increasingly, Chinese turn to online television to access Chinese and international films and television shows (2017)

Internet country code:
.cn

Internet users:
total: 730,723,960
[see also: Internet users - total country ranks ]
percent of population: 53.2% (July 2016 est.)
[see also: Internet users - percent of population country ranks ]
country comparison to the world: 1