BEIJING—Last year on average 4.95 million new mobile users were added to the networks in China every month. In January, the number topped 5.09 million, showing a sustained growth to register a total of 149.9 million users, according to the country’s Ministry of Information Industry (MII).
Last year, 37.29 million new subscribers signed up with China Mobile, while 22.25 million preferred the competing operator China Unicom. MII forecasts 55 million new users this year.
The country exported 39 million handsets last year, up from 23.1 million in 2000 and a paltry 200,000 in 1998. Domestic Chinese companies held a 10-percent market share for GSM base stations, 12-percent for mobile switches and 11 percent for handsets.
