The number of China's telephone users has reached 830 million at the end of 2006 and will exceed 900 million in 2007, said the Ministry of Information Industry on Thursday.

Fixed and mobile subscribers increased by 19.6 million and 66.6 million respectively this year.

The number of mobile subscribers is expected to keep growing rapidly as more people begin to use different mobile phone numbers and the rural market for mobile phones continues to open up, said the ministry.

The number of telephone users in China has leapt markedly in recent years. It took two years for the number to grow from 100 million to 200 million between 1998 and 2000 but only 14 months to grow from 700 million to 800 million between 2005 and 2006.

(Xinhua News Agency December 29, 2006)