CONSUMPTION through the Internet on the Chinese mainland grew rapidly in the first half of this year, due largely to lower connection costs, improved services and an expanding netizen population, Hu Yanping, head of the Data Center of China Internet, said yesterday.

Chinese spent 256.07 billion yuan (US$37.6 billion) on Internet services between January and June, 58.2 percent higher than in the same period a year earlier. The consumption volume would rise to 587.4 billion yuan for the whole year, the center predicted.