China's mobile phone subscribers soared by 30% in 2003 to 269 million, exceeding the number of fixed-line users for the first time.
Over the same period, fixed-line subscribers rose by 22% to 263 million, compared with 34% growth in 2002, the Ministry of Information Industry said.
The dramatic increase was attributed to falling prices for handsets and services offered by the two state companies controlling the market, China Mobile and China Unicom.
China is the largest mobile phone market in the world.