CHINA'S unified short message code system, starting this month, will make the industry grow in a healthy way and the regulator will take measures to ensure it works, the Ministry of Information Industry said yesterday.

A new mobile service provider code prefixed with 106 will be formally initiated to replace the current four-digit number from each telecom service provider in China, which went into effect on Saturday.

Carriers including China Mobile, China Unicom, China Netcom and China Telecom will use the new code system for mobile phone and Little Smart users, whose user base has reached 600 million.

The person-to-person SMS system won't be influenced by the change, but paid services such as ringtone downloads and mobile newspaper subscriptions will come under the new system.

"A service provider can freely choose a cooperator among the four Chinese telecom service providers (under the new system) and bad behavior can be easily tracked," the ministry said in a statement on its Website.

MII has established a team to ensure all firms adopt the new codes and set up a national hotline 12300 to regulate the new system.

From December 1 to March 1, users' subscription to the old numbers will be cancelled and they will be told of the new code prefixed with 106, according to Shanghai Mobile, the biggest local carrier.

"People can easily remember the service number under the new code system and that will boost the development of the whole industry," Shanghai Mobile told Shanghai Daily.

About 440 million people are expected to use non-voice mobile services in 2007, accounting for 83 percent of total handset users. The figure will reach 94 percent in 2010.