Chinese Government Predicts 600 Million Cell Phone Users by 2010

Press Release - March 29, 2007

The total number of mobile phone subscribers in China is expected to top 600 million by the year 2010, according to the Asian country’s Ministry of Information Industry (MII), meaning that 45 out of 100 Chinese citizens would be connected to a wireless network.

China’s first mobile phone facilities were launched back in 1987, but it took over a decade for the country’s wireless population to top 10 million. In the last few years, however, the Chinese cell phone market has grown exponentially to become the world’s largest, with 460 million users at the end of 2006.

The country’s government expects this number to continue growing in the months and years to come, topping 520 million by the end of 2007, and expanding by a further 80 million before 2010.