Mobile Data Traffic Surges 18.7% During 2026 Spring Festival, AI Apps Shine as New Highlight

According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), nationwide mobile internet traffic during the 2026 Spring Festival holiday reached 8.783 million terabytes (TB), an 18.7% year-on-year increase—8.8 percentage points higher than the growth rate in the previous year. The single-day peak occurred on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, reaching 993,000 TB. Six major apps—including Douyin, WeChat, and Kuaishou—accounted for nearly 70% of total traffic. During the holiday period, China’s basic telecom carriers advanced the “AI+” initiative, widely promoting innovative services such as AI-powered New Year greetings, AI-generated festive content, and intelligent interactive features. Meanwhile, the integration of 5G, BeiDou navigation, and AI technologies empowered a range of applications, including smart driving, AI-driven cultural and tourism services, fireworks and firecracker supervision, anti-fraud alerts, and remote medical consultations. Digital employees also helped enterprises enhance operational efficiency, injecting strong technological momentum into the Spring Festival celebrations.