GUANGZHOU - Nine southern Chinese cities on Monday expanded their outdoor wireless Internet service to all green-belts and pedestrian strolling lanes, as more Chinese cities aim to have their urban areas covered by free wireless Internet this year.

Constant access to the WLAN network will be provided for free on the 2,372-kilometer long greenways in nine cities in the Pearl River Delta region in Guangdong province, said Xu Long, a regional general manager for China Mobile, the country's leading telecommunications company.

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The delta region, which is also known as a leading manufacturing hub in China next to Hong Kong, is an economically developed area in the country populated by skilled workers and professionals.

The region previously only provided free wireless Internet service at limited areas such as downtown streets during holidays.

China has the world's largest online population. The number of Internet users hit 457 million in 2010. In addition to the delta region, a number of Chinese cities, such as Beijing had committed to expand free wireless Internet service in public locations.