BIZCHINA / Biz Media Digest
Telecom: China has half a billion cellphone users
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-11-25 15:04
The Ministry of Information Industry has announced that the number of
mobile phone users is expected to reach 459 million by the end of the
year.
Yang Zemin, director of the telecommunications research center of the
ministry, told a seminar that 48 million people are expected to acquire
their first mobile phones in 2006.
Over the past several years, the number of mobile phone users has been
growing at 50 million annually in China.
China now has more mobile phone users than fixed-line subscribers and the
gap continues to widen. Statistics show 830,000 fixed-line subscribers
signed up in October, compared with nearly six million new mobile phone
users. Nine provinces saw a reduction in the number of fixed-line users.
Yang said 40 to 50 percent of Chinese people will upgrade their mobile
phones in 2006 as cheaper and flashier models with new functions capture
consumer's eyes.
China is expected to produce 340 million mobile phones in 2006, up 11
percent from last year. Total exports of mobile phones will reach 250
million, up eight percent.
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