The number of mobile phone subscribers in China reached a record 388 million at the end of November, said the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) on Monday.

This is an increase of 53.3 million over the end of last year. The number of new mobile phone subscribers in China grew by an average 4.84 million per month in the first 11 months of the year, said the ministry in a press release. At the end of November, there were 29.1 mobile phones for every 100 Chinese.

Along with the increase in mobile phone subscribers, short message volume climbed 40.1 percent year-on-year. More than 274.3 billion text messages were sent in the first 11 months, said the ministry.

Despite fierce competition from mobile operators, the number of fixed-line subscribers rose by more than 39 million on last year's figure to a total of 350 million by the end of November. By then, there were 26.6 fixed-line subscribers for every one hundred Chinese, the ministry said.

Statistics from the ministry show the total number of telephone users in China, including both mobile phone users and fixed-line users, reached 738 million by the end of November. China's mobile phone users outnumbered fixed-line phone subscribers in October 2003.

The ministry also said in the first 11 months this year China's total post and telecommunications revenue reached 581.75 billion yuan, up 11.2 percent over the same period last year.

China imported its first mobile phone telecom facilities in 1987, and it took a decade for the number of subscribers to reach 10 million. Four years later, the country had the largest number of mobile phone subscribers in the world.

(China Daily December 27, 2005)