Beijing, July 23: China added 4.5 million new mobile telephone users in June, taking its total to 234.5 million people, the Ministry of Information Industry said on Tuesday. The country has added an average of 4.65 million mobile subscribers each month in the first half of 2003.
Analysts said growth in mobile subscribers was slowing relative to the last year, when between five million to six million new users were being added every month.
The decline was expected, reflecting a slight slowdown in the market served by operators China Mobile and China Unicom, they said.
The country added 4.7 million new fixed-line subscribers last month, for a total of 237.6 million users, the ministry said in a report on its Web site www.mii.gov.cn.
A telecoms analyst at a European investment bank said June was the first month since 2001 that more fixed-line subscribers than mobile subscribers were added. The figure reflected the success of a cheap wireless phone service, known domestically as "Little Smart", which is offered by China`s top two fixed-line phone companies China Telecom and China Netcom, he said. Bureau Report