China's mobile phone users reach 416 million

Statistics show that the number increased by 23.216 million in the first four months, more than twice the increase of fixed-line users. There are 55.7 million more mobile subscribers than fixed-line users.

The average monthly increase in mobile users has been between three million and four million in the past year, the ministry said.

China's mobile subscribers have been growing steadily since they outnumbered fixed-line phone subscribers in October 2003.

Along with the increase in mobile phone subscribers, the short message volume climbed 46.5 per cent from the previous year in the first four months to 132.25 billion.

The ministry also said in the Jan-April period this year, China's total post and telecommunications revenue reached 229.31 billion yuan (around $28.6 billion), up 11.7 per cent over the same period last year.

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.

China, the largest manufacturer of mobile phones in the world, produced a total of 304 million phones last year, accounting for  36.8 per cent of the world's total production.

The country exported 228 mn mobile phones in 2005, of which only 13.2 mn phones, or 5.8 per cent, were home brands.

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