Cellphone users in China top 150 million

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BEIJING, May 18 (UPI) -- China had 152 million 3G cellphone users in March, a 10-fold increase in two years, the country's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said.

China's total mobile online users exceed 370 million, more than 70 percent of the country's total Internet users, MIIT vice minister Shang Bing said.

Microblogging, mobile payments and e-commerce are increasing as information and telecommunication industries drive social and economic development, Shang said.

China now has 1.3 billion phone users, including 1.01 billion mobile phone users, as well as 158 million broadband Internet customers, state-run news agency Xinhua reported Friday.

China is holding large-scale 4G trials, but officials said they would wait another two or three years to issue 4G licenses, citing the need to build more 4G base stations and give cellphone makers time to develop handsets to take advantage of the high-speed networks.