China hits 200 million mobile users

China has forged ahead in the mobile phone market with news that it has just hit the 200 million users milestone.

In total four million new subscriptions were take up in November, pushing the total number of subscribers to 200.3 million - more than any other country in the world. During 2002 China has added nearly 60 million mobile phone users, at a rate of around five million per month.

The country's massive population is becoming increasingly tech-savvy, boosting the national economy as well as providing an incredibly tempting market for western tech giants who have been living through a recession in their domestic markets where the saturation points of many technologies have been hit and buying cycles have slowed amid economic uncertainty.

According to Chinese news agency Xinhua, China also added 2.4 million new internet users during November, taking the national total to 48.3 million.