Shanghai Mobile handled 194 million text messages on December 31, which soared significantly by 76 percent compared to the usual daily volume, Oriental Morning Post reported today.

"It's 34 percent more than on December 31 in 2005," said an official from Shanghai Mobile.

Shanghai Unicom, a branch of China Unicom, transferred 50 million text messages for its CDMA network and GSM users on the same day, up 20 percent from the same day in 2005.

Chinese cell phone users sent about 12 billion text messages during the seven-day holiday of the Chinese Lunar New Year in 2006, the report said.

China's main telecom service providers also cooperated with several main domestic portals, like Sina, Sohu and TOM, to provide festive mobile downloads during the past New Year holiday.

China's phone users, including fixed-line and mobiles, will hit 900 million by the end of this year, Wang Xudong, Minister of the Information Industry, said in a previous report.

As well, 40 percent of the population will have mobile phones by then, the country's top information technology official said.

People are expected to enjoy more types of services and lower fees this year because telecommunications carriers will focus more on non-voice-service sectors, he said.

China plans to cap the top rate for fees, probably in 2008, to protect consumers, Wang said.

In Shanghai, the mobile phone fee rate has dropped to 0.10 yuan in some packages, a quarter of the level a year ago.

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