Nokia saw sales soar in China last year as the world's largest maker of mobile phones started tapping the nation's huge rural market, according to state media.

The Finnish telecoms giant saw China sales jump 39 percent to 5.3 billion euros (6.9 billion dollars) in 2006 as it moved 51 million mobile phones, up 57 percent, the China Daily said, citing Nokia figures.

As big cities are approaching saturation point, gains have been mainly due to a push by Nokia into the rural market, where many people are buying handsets for the first time, the newspaper said.

Cellular operators China Mobile and China Unicom have stepped up expansion in rural areas, helping to boost in Nokia's sales, it said.

The company, which said it holds a 35 percent market share, predicted double-digit growth in the handset market this year, driven mainly by the increase in rural markets, the newspaper said.

By December last year, China had 461 million mobile phone subscribers, an increase of 68 million from the year before, it added, citing government data.