China’s mobile subscriber numbers put in doubt

BEIJING—According to China’s Ministry of Information Industry (MII), the country had 120.6 million mobile subscribers at the end of July, surpassing the United States’ 120.16 million, but the Gartner Group has cast doubt on China’s figures.
According to Gartner, the number of inactive users in China is 16 percent of the total, versus only 1 percent in the United States. Gartner claims the MII did not discount those users or a growing number of users who possess more than one SIM card, but do not use them simultaneously.
In addition, according to Gartner, the average mobile connection in China is yielding US$223 a year compared with US$615 in the United States, while average revenue per user (ARPU) fell 41 percent in China last year, but rose 5.7 percent in the United States.