Chinese mobile users are expected to reach above 520 million at
the end of this year, predicted the Ministry of Information
Industry (MII).
The prediction is made based on the average monthly rise of five
million mobile subscribers in the previous years.
More fixed-line users would choose to use cell phones with the
dropping price of handsets and continuous decline of the charging
fees, according to the MII.
The number of cell phone users reached 460 million at the end of
2006, 67.677 million more than the end of the previous year. On the
average, every 100 Chinese people have 35.3 cell phones.
China imported its first mobile phone telecommunication
facilities in 1987 and it took a decade for the number of
subscribers to reach 10 million. Four years later, the country had
the largest number of mobile phone subscribers in the world.
(Xinhua News Agency February 15, 2007)