The number of mobile phone users in China hit 431.8 million in July, the government said, far and away the most of any single country in the world.
Chinese users continue to sign up for mobile phone service at a far faster pace than for fixed-line services. The nation added 5.43 million new users in July, according to the Ministry of Information Industry.
China's monthly subscriber growth also beats India , another fast growing mobile market. India added 5.28 million new mobile phone users in July, increasing its total to 111.2 million.
India also faces a similar situation as China in that mobile services are prompting people to eschew fixed line services. In July, the number of fixed line users in India actually declined by 60,000, the regulator said.
While the number of fixed line users continues to grow in China , mobile phones are more popular. China counted 366.6 million fixed line subscribers by the end of July, up by just over a million from the previous month.
For every 100 people in China, 28 have a fixed line phone connection, while 32.7 subscribe to a mobile phone service, the ministry said.
The nation's two largest mobile phone service providers are benefiting from the strong growth in Chinese mobile phone use.
China 's mobile user base is also nearly double that of the US, which stood at an estimated 218.2 million.