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To: Asterisk who wrote (22057)	1/27/1999 9:20:00 PM
From: SKIP PAUL	Read Replies (5) \| Respond to of 152472

Wednesday, January 27, 1999 Cell Phone, Internet Use Begins Rapid Rise In China BEIJING (Nikkei)--The use of cellular phones and the Inter net has begun to increase rapidly in China. The number of cell phone subscribers climbed by 10.33 million last year, the first time the annual numerical increase has exceeded Japan's. This brought the total cumulative number of subscribers by year-end to 23.56 million, the highest in the world after the U.S. and Japan. The figure accounts for less than 2% of the population, and thus proportionally it is far behind Japan and the U.S., where use is more than 30%. Nevertheless, if rates continue to fall, China could become the world leader in the number of cell phones in service in about a decade. Cell phone service was introduced in China in 1987, but the number of users failed to make impressive gains until 1996, when it began to increase rapidly. Monthly basic service charges of some 50 yuan (about 700 yen) amount to nearly 10% of the average monthly salary of an urban worker, but use is increasing among executives of state-run firms, workers at foreign-capitalized companies and the self-employed. The number of Internet users as of Dec. 31 totaled 2.1 million, 3.1 times the year-earlier figure. Providers generally cost a whopping 100-200 yuan per month, which is why corporations comprise the majority of customers. Individual customers are beginning to increase in number, however. In 1998, some 3.5 million personal computers were sold in China, but that figure is forecast to top 6 million this year. With more and more governmental institutions and private companies setting up Net sites, the number of Internet users is now expected to reach 13 million by the end of next year, some industry observers say. (The Nihon Keizai Shimbun Thursday morning edition)