Mobile phone subscribers in China increased by 40.3 million to 310 million as of the end of July.

According to Ministry of Information and Industry statistics, China's fixed-line subscribers increased by 36.2 million to a total of 299 million in the same period.

The growing number of mobile and fixed-line subscribers is a popular yardstick of how China's robust economic growth is filtering down to its 1.3 billion population.

China recorded a 9.1 percent year on year economic expansion last year, outpacing the 8 percent gross domestic product growth in 2002.

The report said that China's total communications service revenue rose 12.5 percent year on year to 330 billion yuan (US$39.8 billion) by the end of July.

That included a 13.4% on-year rise in telecommunication service revenue to 297.4 billion (US$35.9 billion) in the same period.

Postal service revenue increased 5.4% to 32.3 billion (US$3.9 billion) by the end of July.

(Xinhua News Agency August 25, 2004)