The China Internet Network Information Center has released its first report regarding the development of Wireless Application Protocol in China.

CNNIC's report shows that by the end of March 2007, there were 39 million WAP users, 65000 WAP websites and 260 million WAP webpages in China. A representative from CNNIC says that WAP has become an important component of China's Internet, though it is still in its early stages, and there have already been some signs that it will soon experience fast growth.

However, there is still a gap between WAP development in the eastern and western parts of the country, according to the report, which shows that 60.8% of WAP users are from the eastern part of China, 24.1% from middle part and 15.1% from western party. Geographically, Guangdong takes the lead in the nation with a total of 9.7 million active WAP users, which accounts for one quarter of the country's total.

The report says that users have developed a habit of surfing online with WAP and they are enthusiastic about the WAP service, but there is a need to simplify the online surfing procedures so that more and more users are willing to use WAP to access to Internet. Users also complain about WAP's narrow bandwidth, high current costs and lack of rich content.