According to AFP, the Chinese government confirmed that the billion mark in terms of mobile phone subscribers (user accounts) had been surpassed by the end of February. This is up from a figure of 900.4 million noted in April 2011.

China’s cellphone subscriptions increased by 20.7 million during the first couple of months of this year, according to the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, which made it possible for the world’s most populous nation (approx. 1.3 billion citizens) to reach this mobile milestone.

The large uptake in mobile phones has coincided with a decrease in the amount of fixed line phone subscriptions, according to ChinaDaily.com, with this number decreasing by 828 000 during January and February to amount to 284.3 million.

Besides Chinese users opting for mobility in favour of landlines, other contributing factors to the  mobile phone adoption rate are the lower price of handsets, as well as the decrease in usage (call and data) charges that have taken place in recent years.

Only about 144 million out of the total billion mobile phone users make use of 3G-capable devices, which is almost twice the figure for April 2011.

In related news, the IDC asserted that the growth of smartphones will be driven by countries in the Asia/Pacific region, most notably China, where mobile operators are subsidising the purchase of 3G smartphones.