India has surpassed China in mobile phone subscriber additions for the month of June. The two billion-population Asian behemoths have been neck and neck in the race to acquire new wireless subscribers.

India had a total of 8.94 million new mobile subscribers for the month, up from 8.62 million in May, reported The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). India’s total wireless subscriber base now stands at 286.86 million as of end June, up 55% from a year ago.

Total Subscribers By Wireless Operators, India June 2008 (Source: TRAI)

China, the largest mobile market in the world, achieved a new milestone of 601 million wireless subscribers at the end of June, according to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) China.

The number of new mobile subscribers increased 8.6 million for the month, adding up to a total of 53.5 million new cellphone users for the first half of 2008. The Chinese are rapidly taking to mobile as fixed-lines fell by 9.3 million to 356 million over the 6-month period.

MIIT’s half-year 2008 report: Revenues for the China telecommunications industry increased 9.2% to CNY 398.8 billion (USD58.36 billion). The mobile business generated revenues of CNY 213.7 billion (USD31.28 billion), up 16% year-on-year, and data services generated revenues of CNY 37.4 billion, up 40%

The number of mobile minutes totalled 1.4 trillion, up 33% year-on-year while the number of text messages sent rose 23% YoY to 344.1 billion sms.

More details on June subscribers by main industry players are available here