File Photo (Baidu.com)

    BEIJING, Feb. 27 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese people sent some 15.665 billion short messages through mobile phones in January, surging 91.2 percent year on year, according to sources with the Ministry of Information Industry.

    In January, when both the New Year and Spring Festival were celebrated in China, the number of telephone users in the country reached 545.735 million, the largest worldwide, according to the ministry.

    The number of mobile phone users grew by 8.1 million to hit 276.8 million within the month, and that of the fixed phone users expanded by 5.628 million to approach 270 million.

    Moreover, more than 11.86 million Chinese households were connected to broadband service by the end of January.

    Also in January, the telecommunication business in China totaled 41.41 billion yuan (about five billion US dollars), up 15.4 percent. Enditem