China will complete the goal of providing internet access to 90 percent of the countries’ poverty-stricken regions ahead of time, harnessing the power of the Internet to lift rural regions out of poverty.

China’s central government along with Chinese enterprises have invested over 40 billion RMB in the construction of broadband network in the countries’ rural regions in the past two years, covering over 130,000 administrative villages in 27 provinces and regions. As of press time, broadband network has been installed in over 50,000 administrative villages, with more than 280,000 Internet users, said an official from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology during a conference held in Beijing on Oct. 9.

“Our next step is to complete the goal of installing broadband network in 90 percent of China’s poor villages ahead of time, using the Internet to tackle the regions’ poverty,” said the official.

As Internet Plus becomes a national strategy, the Chinese government has targeted poverty alleviation as an important impetus for the development of the impoverished areas. According to a plan released by the Central Government in October last year, China aims to expand online services to rural areas. The plan aims to increase the sale of agricultural products and provide high quality education services and proposes that an information service system for the poor to be established by 2020.