BEIJING Almost one in ten Chinese people today owns a mobile phone, Xinhua news agency said Wednesday quoting the Ministry of Information Industry (MII).

A 35 percent rise in mobile phone acquisition this year would lead to 116 million mobile phone users in China by the end of June, MII Vice Minister Lou Qinjian was quoted as saying.

The number of mobile phones would have risen by 30 million compared to late last year.

China should have 260 million mobile phone users by 2005, Lou said.

The world's most populous country hopes to eventually overtake the United States as the leader in mobile phone usage.