A woman speaks on her mobile phone in Beiijng
© AFP/File Frederic J. Brown BEIJING (AFP) - Mobile phone users in the country increased to 601 million at the end of June, up by 8.6 million from the end of May, the Ministry of Information Industry said in a statement posted on its website on Wednesday.
From January to June, the nation of 1.3 billion recorded 53.5 million new cellphone users, it said.
By contrast, fixed-line subscribers fell by 9.3 million in the first six months to 356 million, it said.
Mobile service is becoming more popular in the country after operators lowered tolls in March for making phone calls outside a user's registered local service area and cancelled charges for answering calls in some cities.
China has been leapfrogging into the age of mobile telephony because of the huge costs associated with installing fixed lines across a nation the size of the United States.
©AFP