The number of subscribers has grown by one million during the past 20 days as the figure on Sept. 25 was three million, according to sources with China Unicom, the only CDMA operator in the country.

Statistics also show that by the end of last month, GSM subscribers at China Unicom had reached 57 million, giving the company 30 percent of China's mobile telecommunications market and ranking it third among mobile telecom operators worldwide in terms of the number of subscribers.

China Unicom began building the first phase of its CDMA network in May last year, with a capacity for 15.81 million subscribers, and began operation on Jan. 8 this year.

Recently the company started its second phase, which will expand capacity by 15 million subscribers and elevate the network into CDMA 1X, one capable of providing high-speed data communication services.

(Xinhua News Agency October 16, 2002)