BEIJING -- China's Internet companies saw combined revenues up 10 percent to 149.8 billion yuan ($22.34 billion) in the first two months of this year.

The pace was down by 10.4 percentage points from the same period of last year, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

Profits of Internet companies tracked by the ministry also expanded.

The companies spent 6.06 billion yuan into research and development, up 11.5 percent year on year.

Companies in East China saw revenues up 9.5 percent to 117.6 billion yuan, while those in Central and western regions reported revenue growth of 19.4 percent and 18.6 percent respectively.