China's new mobile users hit 8.48 mln in Jan

China's new mobile users hit a record high to reach 8.48 million in January, and the total number of the mobile users amounted to over 555 million.

The great increase are mainly boosted by the continuous falling of handset prices and user charges, said Wang Lijian, a spokesman with the Ministry of Information Industry. And he said that the mobile phones are becoming must-have items for every Chinese person.

In contrast, the number of fixed-line subscribers dropped almost 1.5 million to less than 364 million, marking the six consecutive month of decline, according to the latest figures from the ministry.

China had 365 million fixed-line subscribers and 547 million mobile users by the end of last year, and the combined figure accounted for one fifth of the world's total phone subscribers.