592M cell phone users in China

BEIJING, June 26 (UPI) -- More than 45 percent of China's 1.3 billion population now use cellular phones, government figures reveal.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said cell phone subscribers in China jumped 44.8 million in the first five months of this year to reach 592 million at the end of May, Xinhua reported.

The increase is credited to rate cuts announced by mobile operators to draw more customers.

On the other side, the report said the number of landline or fixed-line users dropped by 6.5 million to 358 million in the same period.

The jump in the number of cellular phone subscribers translated to substantial gains for the telecommunications sector, which reported revenues of $48 billion in the first five months of this year, up 9.6 percent from year-ago levels.