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China’s total number of mobile phone users continued to rise in the first five months this year, led by a surge in the number of 3G subscribers, according to official data released Friday.
From January to May, China’s total mobile phone subscribers increased by 51.1 million, more than half of which came from 3G users, to 910.1 million, said the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) in a statement on its website.
The number of 3G subscribers jumped by 57 percent to 73.8 million in the first five months, said the MIIT.
The increases in mobile subscribers came alongside a slight decline in fixed-line subscribers which fell by 3.7 million to 290.7 million.
During the first five months, the combined revenues of mobile telecom service providers was 277 billion yuan ($42.8 billion), a year-on-year increase of 13.6 percent, accounting for 71 percent of the telecom sector’s overall revenues, compared with about 68.4 percent for the same period last year, the MIIT said.
China’s Internet users were shifting from dial-up to broadband. From January to May, broadband subscribers grew by nearly 10 percent to 138.5 million, while dial-up users decreased by 129,000 to 5.77 million, according to the statement.
Source: China Daily
