China is the world's largest mobile telecommunications market, but it is far from saturated. Strong growth in incomes will support further increases in subscriptions in 2014-18, especially in rural areas. Rising incomes will also drive upgrading, notably to handsets that support 3G and 4G services. According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT), there were 1.26bn mobile-phone subscriptions in July 2014, up from 1.23bn at end-2013. Similarly, the mobile-phone penetration rate rose from about 90.8% at end-2013 to 92.6% in July 2014. Since developed economies typically have penetration rates of above 100%, there remains considerable room for growth.
Although 2G customers still account for the bulk of mobile users (60.7% in July 2014, according to MIIT), the number of 3G and 4G customers is growing. The number of 4G mobile-phone users reached 20.6m in July 2014, while the number of 3G customers amounted to 4754m (equivalent to 37.6% of mobile-phone subscriptions). The number of 3G customers has grown from 401.6m at end-2013 (representing 32.7% of mobile-phone subscriptions) and from just 12.3m at end-2009.

Telecommunications report 2

Mobile 2

Fixed 4

Internet 5

Industry publishing schedule 8

中国科学技术信息研究所