China Unicom Closing the Digital Divide in Sichuan Province

In contrast to China’s fast developing urban centers, much of the nation’s rural areas are still struggling to catch up. This discrepancy is even more apparent when we look at China’s digital divide, as many of the nation’s Western regions have a long way to go in terms of internet infrastructure (see our map below).

In one particular development effort, China Unicom last Friday announced its intentions to help develop digitization in Sichuan Province. As you no doubt recall, Sichuan was the site of a devastating earthquake back in May of 2008.

China Unicom’s initiative will “further expand the construction of WCDMA networks and beef up WIFI/WAPI services in the region.” The company also intends to improve the fiber-optic network in the region as well.

For more information on China’s internet development, CNNIC released an extensive report last year (pdf) which is still very relevant to the discussion.

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