China is capable of manufacturing 400 million mobile phones a year, accounting for 40 percent of the global total, a senior official said on Thursday.

 

"China has become the largest base for producing mobile phones and other related products in the world," Vice Minister of Information Industry Lou Qinjian told a forum held in north China's port city of Tianjin.

 

Currently, China has a total of 65 mobile phone producers, including 31 domestic-funded companies and 34 overseas-funded companies, Lou said.

 

In 2005, China reported an output of 330 million mobile phones, up 30 percent from a year earlier, taking up 35 percent of the world total, statistics with the Ministry of Information Industry show.

 

Meanwhile, China exported 228 million mobile phones last year, growing up 56 percent on the previous year.

 

China's mobile phone subscribers also witnessed rapid growth last year, Lou said.

 

Statistics show China's mobile phone subscribers rose by 58.6 million to 393 million in 2005; one out of every three Chinese people is using a mobile phone.

 

In the first quarter of this year, China's mobile phone subscribers reached more than 400 million, statistics show.

 

(Xinhua News Agency May 19, 2006)