CHINA'S total phone user base surpassed 900 million last year and the fixed-line phone subscriber base dropped for the first time since the country started to publish the figures in 1991, the Ministry of Information Industry said yesterday on its Website.

The country's fixed-line phone user base totaled 365 million in 2007, losing 2.34 million. The mobile phone subscriber base reached 547 million, adding 86.23 million last year, according to MII.