Asian giant now has 1.3 billion mobile subscribers

Mobile broadband subscriptions in the past year have seen massive growth in China.

According to new data released by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information, the country now has 1.29 billion total mobile users, and as of April 49 percent of them all had mobile broadband services.

In 2015 alone, the amount of mobile broadband subscribers has increased by over 61 million, but the growth margin moves closer to 50 percent, there are signs that growth is slowing.

April was the slowest month for growth in the past year and as of the middle of this month, it’s likely that China has hit 50 percent mobile penetration already, meaning that some 650 million Chinese are accessing the web through their mobile phones.

This information comes in the midst of increasing complaints about the costs of mobile broadband access all over China.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has serially asked telecoms companies to cut their subscription rates, but even with that, the most recent round of cuts have not impressed the subscribers at all.

Mobile data rates are far lower in China than in developed countries like the United States, but since the standard of living in China is also lower, high data rates can be an even bigger burden on Chinese mobile subscribers.