China mobile numbers growing

China, already the world's largest market for mobile phones, is growing the numbers further. A US High Tech market research firm even predicts that by 2008, the country will have 118 million 3G subscribers - okay, we reported earlier that those numbers should always be taken carefully, as for example, Nokia's President Pekka Ala-Pietila stated recently (AFX, June 14, 2004), that the main growth of subscribers in China will mainly come from 2.5 G networks.

Overall, the market research firm also estimated that mobile subscribers in China will grow fromclose to 270 million in 2003 to nearly 500 million in 2008 - giving it an annual growth rate of 11.7% and a penetration of 37.6% in 2008.

Earlier (South China Morning Post, June 4, 2004), another market research firm called Asian Marketng Research Directions noted that current mobile phone penetration in rural areas has reached 13%, 51% in cities and 44% in towns - showing again the pitfalls for accurate numbers in Asia, and the need to compare findings to come to a somewhat accurate conclusion.