China: the world's largest mobile phone market

China has become the world's largest mobile communications market. According to statistics released by the Ministry of Information Industry (MII), the number of cell phone users in China has risen by an average of 5.5 million each month since the end of 2005. The number of mobile phone users in China has grown to more than 431 million by mid-2006, which is a 44.9% increase over the same period in 2005.

Text messaging showed the highest rate of growth, increasing by 44.9% in July 2006 compared with the same period in 2005. The MII says that between January and July 2006, a total of 238.5 billion text messages were sent.

The MII reported at the end of July 2006 that there are more than 798 million telephone users in China. There are 28 landline phones and 32.7 mobile phones for every 100 people. MII statistics also show that China's telecommunications sector earned Rmb405.29 billion (US$50.7 billion) in revenue in the first seven months of the 2006, a year-on-year rise of 11.4%.