Cell phone penetration in China as of 2006 was only 35.3 handsets per 100 people. Considering that the population of China is over 1.3 billion, we can estimate that there are at least 463 million mobile handsets in operation. More interestingly, given that mobile phone penetration rates in more advanced countries are over 75%, as China continues to develop the market for cell phones will more than double in size.

The chart below shows mobile phone adoption in China from 2002-2006.

Source: National Bureau of Statistics of China