Mobile phone subscribers in China increased by 40.3 million to 310 million as of the end of July.

According to Ministry of Information and Industry statistics, China's fixed-line subscribers increased by 36.2 million to a total of 299 million in the same period.

The growing number of mobile and fixed-line subscribers is a popular yardstick of how China's robust economic growth is filtering down to its 1.3 billion population.

China recorded a 9.1 percent year on year economic expansion last year, outpacing the 8 percent gross domestic product growth in 2002.

The report said that China's total communications service revenue rose 12.5 percent year on year to 330 billion yuan by the end of July.

That included a 13.4 percent on-year rise in telecommunication service revenue to 297.4 billion yuan in the same period.

Postal service revenue increased 5.4 percent to 32.3 billion yuan by the end of July.
 
(Xinhua News Agency August 25, 2004)