Workers of China Telecom install a 5G base station in Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, on Sept 25. Chinese telecom firms are preparing for a fully internet-connected world. (TONG CHANGHUAI / FOR CHINA DAILY)

BEIJING - China's telecommunication industry logged a steady expansion in the first quarter of this year, with a strong expansion of emerging businesses and new infrastructure, official data shows.

The combined business revenues of firms in the sector totaled 425.2 billion yuan (about $61.85 billion ), up 7.7 percent year-on-year, according to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Of the total, emerging sectors such as internet data centers, cloud computing and the Internet of Things saw their revenues rise 24.5 percent year-on- year, driving the revenue of telecom business to increase by 4.8 percentage points, the ministry said.

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The data also reveals the steady progress China has made in advancing new infrastructure construction. The country had 2.64 million 5G base stations by the end of March.