China witnesses steep rise in mobile subscription

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has said that half of its 1.3 billion population became mobile phone subscribers by the end of May.     

Propelled by cut in phone rates by mobile operators, the number jumped by 44.8 million in the first five months this year, the ministry said.     

The fixed-line subscriber base has however been yielding space to mobile services.     

The number of fixed-line users plummeted by 6.5 million to 358 million, it said.     

The telecom sector reported revenue of $48 billion in five months, a 9.6 per cent rise from the same period a year earlier, state-run Xinhua news agency said.     

Fixed-asset investment in the telecom industry grew 2.7 per cent to $11 billion, it said.     

China is the biggest mobile phone market in the world.