BEIJING - China's telecommunication industry logged steady growth in the first eight months of 2024, driven by emerging businesses, official data showed.

Revenues of telecommunication services totaled 1.17 trillion yuan (about $167.6 billion) in the January-August period, rising 2.7 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

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During this period, emerging sectors such as big data, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things continued to post strong performances.

China's three telecom giants - China Telecom, China Mobile and China Unicom - saw their revenue from emerging businesses jump 10.5 percent year on year to 289.7 billion yuan, driving up the telecom sector's total revenue growth by 2.4 percentage points.

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Specifically, revenue from cloud computing and big data surged 12.3 percent and 61.6 percent, respectively, compared with the same period a year ago.

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Broadband internet services generated 181.6 billion yuan for China's three major telecom companies from January to August, up 4.6 percent year on year, according to the data.