BEIJING, July 31 -- China's internet sector saw steady growth in business revenue in the first half of this year, data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology showed.

In the first six months, China's major internet companies and related services companies generated 867.6 billion yuan (about 121.6 billion U.S. dollars) in business revenue, an increase of 5.6 percent year on year. This growth rate was 0.6 percentage points higher than that registered in the first five months.

Specifically, business revenue of firms mainly providing information services soared 9.5 percent compared to one year earlier -- a pace 5 percentage points faster than the January-May period.

The major internet companies' cumulative profits came in at 74.37 billion yuan, up 1.9 percent year on year.

The data also revealed that spending on research and development in major internet and related service companies stood at 45.98 billion yuan from January to June, edging up 1.2 percent year on year.

Major internet companies and related services companies refer to those with annual business revenues of at least 20 million yuan.