China's mobile subscriber base surges to 929.84 mn users

BEIJING: China's mobile phone subscriber base surged to 929.84 million users in the first seven months of 2011, fetching $ 87.6 billion in revenues for service providers in the country, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said today.

China's mobile phone operators added 70.83 million new subscribers in the first seven months of this year, taking the country's total number of cellphone users to 929.84 million, according to the MIIT.

The entire telecommunications industry collected 559.46 billion yuan ($ 87.6 billion) in business revenues during the January-July period, up 10.1 per cent year-on-year, according to the MIIT.

The total number of third-generation ( 3G) mobile phone service subscribers expanded to 87.2 million by the end of July, it added.

However, the number of the fixed phone lines fell by about 4.89 million subscribers during the January-July period, indicating that an increasing number of Chinese are relying on their mobile phones as their primary method of communication, the MIIT said in a statement. PTI KJV ARV ARV 08291205 NNNN