China had more than 860 million phone users by the end of May
this year, partly thanks to a growing rural market, statistics from
the Ministry of Information Industry have shown.
The figure included 494 million mobile phone users and 372
million fixed-line subscribers, according to the ministry.
The number of rural users has been on the rise since the second
half of 2006. With new registration of about 1.7 million in the
January-May period this year, the total rural phone subscribers
have topped 118.1 million, according to the ministry.
In May alone, the nation recorded new mobile phone subscribers
of 7.16 million, while the number of new fixed-line users in the
first five months was 4.39 million.
The revenue of the country's telecommunications business rose
10.1 percent from a year earlier to 318. 67 billion yuan (US$43.65
billion) in the first five months this year, said the ministry.
(Xinhua News Agency July 17, 2007)