China's mobile phone subscribers hit 443 million
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-10-25 09:29
China's legions of mobile phone subscribers swarmed to a new high of 443
million at the end of September, according to the latest figures from the
Ministry of Information Industry.
The figures suggest that as many as
one in every three Chinese citizens now has a mobile, but in reality some people
have more than one handset.
In the first nine months of the year,
China's mobile phone subscribers increased by 49.75 million. That is a whopping
5.53 million new subscribers per month.
Fixed-line subscriptions are
growing much more slowly, 2.10 million per month in the first three quarters.
The country now has 369 million fixed-line phone subscribers.
For every
100 Chinese, there are now 33.9 mobile phones and 28.3 fixed-line phones.
The telecommunications sector posted revenue of 479.93 billion yuan (60.75
billion U.S. dollars) in the first nine months of the year, up 11.3 percent year
on year.
Robust growth in the mobile phone industry is due to an
expanding rural market and the increasing number of people who have more than
one mobile phone, a ministry spokesperson said. (For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)
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