BEIJING (AP)

China is expected to have more than 600 million mobile phone users by 2010, state media said.

Xinhua News Agency, citing the Ministry of Information Industry, said the number of mobile users this year should reach 520 million, up from 460 million in 2006.

It also said the number of Chinese using the internet will top 200 million, accounting for 15 per cent of the country's population of 1.3 billion.

China now has the world's second-largest population of internet users after the United States, with 137 million people online, according to the government.

Xinhua said China imported its first mobile phone telecommunication facilities in 1987, and it took a decade for the number of subscribers to reach 10 million.
08/03/2007 07:07:07 AM