There were 996.6 million subscribers of mobile communication services in China as of the end of January 2012, growing 1.08% on month and 14.59% on year. 136.6 million (13.71%) subscribers were 3G users, according to statistics published by China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

The number of subscribers at the end of January accounted for 73.6% of the country's population (user density).

Also at the end of January 2011 there were 284.71 million subscribers of fixed telecommunication networks in China, translating into a user density of 21.3%.

In January 2012, mobile phone subscribers in China sent 85.57 billion text messages, averaging 2.78 per user a day.