CHINA is planning to provide Internet access to almost all of its poor villages in the next three years as part of efforts to narrow the urban-rural digital divide.

More than 98 percent of China’s 122,900 registered poor villages will have access to the Internet by 2020, according to a Ministry of Industry and Information Technology plan.

The ministry will work to provide broadband and 4G data network service to the villages, and encourage telecom operators to offer special discounts to provide quality Internet services at a lower cost.

It also plans to ask cell phone manufacturers to develop more low-priced, easy-to-use smartphones.

China had 1.08 billion 4G network users at the end of April, while the fixed-line broadband subscribers of China’s three major telecom operators — China Telecom, China Unicom and China Mobile — reached 366 million.

Last week, Premier Li Keqiang called for further integration with the Internet to improve key public services, including health care and education, during his one-day trip to the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region.

There is great potential for the Internet to integrate with key fields related to people’s livelihoods, Li said. The integration should facilitate access for people in remote and poverty-stricken areas to high-quality resources and services, which can also promote social equality, he said.  (Xinhua)