China is set to reach 1 billion mobile-phone subscriptions this week

ON MARCH 3rd, China is forecast to sign up its billionth mobile subscription, having fallen just 12m short of that milestone at the end of January. India is not far behind with over 900m subscriptions, according to figures from Chetan Sharma Consulting. Together they account for more than a quarter of the world total. Fortunately the Chinese numbering system theoretically allows for 100 billion mobile numbers, and India's 10 billion, so neither is likely to run out of numbers anytime soon.