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BIZCHINA / Center

China produces 226m mobiles in 1st 5 months

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-07-16 10:14

China produced nearly 226 million mobile phones in the first five months
of the year, up 33.7 percent from a year earlier, according to statistics
from the Ministry of Information Technology.

The rising rural market is believed to be a major driver behind the
production boom, explained ministry officials.

As international giants such as Nokia and Motorola promote low-end phones
targeting farmers, local producers are trying to catch up, according to
the ministry.

China is expected to manufacture 40 percent of the one billion mobile
phones produced around the world this year, said ministry officials.

However, the officials warned that the mobile phone industry is still in
the throes of restructuring and producers without up-to-date technologies
may be thrown out of the market.

China now has more than 80 mobile phone producers. Last year Chinese
companies produced a total of 480 million mobile phones, a hefty rise of
58.2 percent from the previous year.

There are now about 487 million mobile phone users in China with six
million new users being added every month, according to the Ministry of
Information Industry.

(For more biz stories, please visit Industry Updates)

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