BEIJING, Nov 18, 2007 (AFP) - China will soon allow its fixed-line telecom operators to venture into the faster-growing mobile market, state media reported Sunday, citing a senior official.

"The rapid development of mobile telecom services had lured away subscribers of fixed-line services," Xinhua news agency said, citing Xi Guohua, vice minister of information industry.

The government will grant fixed-line operators licences for mobile telecom services "at an early date," Xi was quoted telling a telecom forum in Beijing.

This is likely to be good news for the nation's two major state-controlled fixed-line operators, China Telecom and China Netcom, who are seeing slow growth in their subscriber base.

Unconfirmed reports have suggested that state-owned mobile carrier China Unicom could be split up between China Telecom and China Netcom.

The number of mobile phone users in China reached 523.3 million at the end of September, up 13.5 percent from late 2006, according to ministry of information industry data.

The number of fixed-line users in China was at 371.7 million, a rise of 1.1 per cent from late last year.