China had a record monthly increase in mobile-phone subscribers in May after the nation's two largest wireless carriers cut the cost of services. The country added 7.16 million mobile users in May, making a total of 494.6 million subscribers, the Ministry of Information Industry said on its Website yesterday.

Demand for mobile-phone services surged after China Mobile Ltd and China Unicom Ltd introduced billing systems in February that no longer charges users for answering calls. The growth of fixed-line subscribers to China Telecom Corp and China Netcom Group Corp (Hong Kong) Ltd have moderated.