The Ministry of Information Industry (MII) announced Monday that the number of China's mobile phone users had reached 501.64 million by the end of June, which means every 100 Chinese people had 38.3 handsets.

Official figures showed that the nation's mobile users increased by 40.56 million from the end of last year, 6.76 million a month on average.

The total number of short text messages sent by cell phones amounted to 279 billion, up 37.5 percent year on year.

Meanwhile, fixed-phone users had only grown by 4.86 million to 372 million.

"The demand for mobile telecommunications is increasing," said Zeng Jianqiu, a professor at the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, "that's the reason why China's mobile subscriptions climbed over recent years." he added.

In the first five months, the nation's western regions saw sharp increases of mobile subscriptions. Meanwhile, more and more people in the vast rural area have been joining the surge.

Major mobile communication operators including China Mobile have offered competitive prices to attract rural consumers.

(Xinhua News Agency July 24 2007)