Upwardly mobile China added nearly five million new cellphone users in July, taking the total to 239.45 million people, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

The world's largest mobile market by users has added another 33.45 million users in the first seven months of 2003, it said late on Tuesday, citing statistics from the Ministry of Information Industry.

It had 234.5 million mobile users by the end of June, the ministry had said.
Analysts said growth in mobile subscribers was slowing relative to a year ago, when between five and six million new users were being added every month.

The decline was expected, reflecting a slight slowdown in the market served by operators China Mobile and China Unicom, they said.

The two companies were locked in a fierce battle for new subscribers for much of last year as each tried to increase its market share. But rivalry has subsided somewhat this year, as both focus more on profits and less on attracting new subscribers.

China added 3.15 million new fixed-line subscribers in July for a total of 240.75 million, the agency said.

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