Across China: Guangdong

Mobile numbers scrapped

About 900,000 cell phone numbers were suspended in 2009 for sending mass illicit or junk text messages, according to an official with Guangdong Communication Agency, Beijing-based Morning Post reported yesterday.

Since November 2005, the provincial watchdog has been working with the police to provide a database of unfit keywords to screen and cut off illegal mass texting, a daily headache for the country's 700 million mobile users, said Yang Yuncai, head of the agency's information security office.