China Mobile Communi-cations has signed up 1.3 million subscribers for its general packet radio service (GPRS) in two months, outpacing rival China Unicom in picking up wireless data subscribers.
The number of customers trying the new service beat market forecasts but China's No 1 mobile operator appeared to play down expectations.
'The usage of this wireless data service is not significant,' said a spokesman at China Mobile (Hong Kong), a listed subsidiary of China Mobile Communications.
'We hope to continue our focus to develop applications with our service and content providers.'
Data services contributed 3 per cent of China Mobile revenue but the company declined to make growth predictions.
China Mobile chief engineer Li Mofang said at the GSM China 2002 conference in Beijing yesterday that the company had attracted 350 service providers for its GPRS.