China may overtake the United States as the world's largest broadband Internet market due to strong demand.

A recent report by the UN's International Telecommunications Union said in 2004, the United States had over 25 million broadband subscribers, while China has already added 11 million new users in 2003 to reach 13.5 million.

In addition, the report also predicts that mobile phones sales revenue this year may surpass that of traditional fixed-line services for the first time due to surging demand in developing countries like China, India and Russia.

By the middle of 2004 there were 1.5 billion mobile phone subscribers compared with 1.2 billion fixed-line customers around the world.

The telecom industry, comprising voice data, video and text services, was worth 1.1 trillion dollars in 2003 and the figure was expected to rise this year.

Developing nations comprised 56 percent of the world's mobile phone subscribers by June, while between 2000 and mid-2004 they accounted for almost 79 percent of the new growth in the market.

The report was released as telecom regulators from 85 countries met in Geneva from Wednesday to Friday to discuss issues about the industry, particularly how to issue licenses for the fast-changing technologies available.

Many poor countries have a limited experience of fixed-line networks compared with industrialized countries because they developed communication services during the birth of mobile phones and the Internet.

As a result, developing nations often have interesting ideas about how to solve problems that emerge with new technologies to help their wealthier counterparts who still use regulations drawn up years ago.