China Tops 4Bn Cellular SIM Connections End-2023

China counted more than 4 billion cellular SIM connections at the end of 2023 – the equivalent of one SIM for every 2 people in the world. The extraordinary growth was fuelled by connecting the Internet of Things and, specifically, via 5G networks. The number of M2M SIMs in China has risen from 270 million by end-2017 (when they represented just 16% of total connections), to 2.33 billion last year – representing 57.5% of total connections. According to research by MEF Data, total M2M connections have risen 763% over the period while, at the same time, data-connected handsets used by humans have seen a mere 25.5% growth. To learn more about MEF Data, please contact Data@mobileecosystemforum.com.