86bn text messages were sent in China in January 2012

"China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has released its January 2012 telecom industry statistics. The figures for the month were as follows:
Telecom operating revenues were RMB 92.52 bln (USD 14.66 bln), up 15% YoY. Core services accounted for RMB 81.63 bln (USD 12.94 bln) of the total, up 12.2% YoY.
Total telephone subscribers saw a net increase of 9.94 mln in January to reach 1.281 bln. Mobile subscribers grew by 10.35 mln to 996.6 mln, and fixed-line subscribers dropped by 0.41 mln to 284.71 mln. Broken down by traditional fixed-line and PHS, the PHS subscriber base declined by 934,000 subs to 16.94 mln, while traditional (i.e. non-PHS) fixed-line subscribers increased by 525,000 to 267.77 mln. 8.18 mln new 3G subscribers were added in January to reach a total of 136.6 mln.
A total of 85.57 bln SMS messages were sent during the month of January, a 23.8% increase YoY."

Source:  Marbridge Daily, 13th March 2012