Visitors try an Internet-based healthcare service during an "Internet plus healthcare" exhibition of the ongoing fourth China-Arab States Expo in Yinchuan, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Sept. 6, 2019. (Xinhua/Li Mangmang)

As a key component of China's "new economy", China's internet service and related sectors saw its revenue up 20.9 percent year on year in the first eight months of 2019, according to authorities.

BEIJING, Oct. 9 (Xinhua) -- China's internet service and related sectors continued to see fast expansion, with double-digit growth in both revenue and profit in the first eight months, official data showed.

The sectors' total revenue amounted to 752.2 billion yuan (about 106.4 billion U.S. dollars) during the January-August period, up 20.9 percent year on year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

Business profit came in at 70.9 billion yuan, surging 32.7 percent from the same period last year.

Meanwhile, the sectors' spending on research and development reached 31.3 billion yuan, up 21 percent.

Information services were the largest revenue contributor for the sectors, garnering an income of 495.8 billion yuan and accounting for 65.9 percent of the total revenue.

The internet sector has become a key component of China's "new economy" as the country undergoes a shift to growth driven more by technology and consumption.

The MIIT statistics cover enterprises with annual revenue from internet services of above 3 million yuan in the previous year. ■