Date: 12/14/2007 1:27:17 AM

Cell phone users in China sent 429 billion text messages last year, while India added more mobile subscribers in that year than Britain had in total, according to a new report.
The report by Ofcom, the British governments media and telecommunications watchdog, said mobile phones area driving most of the communications sectors growth and account for 53 percent of total telecom revenue.

In India, the number of new mobile subscriptions doubled to 150 million in 2006an increase that exceeds Britains total of 70 million mobile connections.

Still, only 14 percent of the Indian population had a mobile connection, showing its remaining growth potential.

In China, mobile users sent an equivalent of 967 text messages per user, more than any other country.

The findings were part of the research included in the Ofcom "International Communications Report," which looked at the $1.78 trillion global television, radio, and telecommunications sector in 2006 to analyze growing trends.

It found Britain had the highest takeup of digital television of the 12 Westernized countries surveyedBritain, France, Germany, Italy, Republic of Ireland, Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, Japan, Canada, and the United States.

It also looked at Brazil, Russia, India, and China, which are at different stages of development.

Broadband takeup increased in Britain with over half of all households connected at the end of 2006, putting Britain slightly ahead of the United States for the first time.

In the television sector, Japanese and U.S. viewers spent the most time watching TV, both averaging 4.5 hours a day in 2006, while the U.S. also led the takeup of high definition TV, with 10 percent of homes capable of showing HDTV in 2006.

Internetbased TV, or IPTV, was most popular in France, with 1.5 million subscribers.

Source: http://news.zdnet.com/21001035_226222503.html