BEIJING -- Mobile phone users in China are expected to top 600 million by 2010, predicts the Ministry of Information Industry (MII) on Wednesday.

It means 45 out of 100 people will be connected to the wireless network, the ministry says.

In 2007, the number of China's mobile phone users is expected to top 520 million, up from 460 million in 2006, according to figures from the Ministry of Information Industry.

More fixed-line users will choose to use cell phones as the price of handsets drop, along with a decline in air time charges, according to the MII.

China imported its first mobile phone telecommunication facilities in 1987. It took a decade for the number of subscribers to reach 10 million. Four years later, the country had the largest number of mobile phone subscribers in the world.

The ministry predicts China's fixed-line users will top 400 million by 2010.

The number of Chinese netizens will top 200 million, accounting for 15 percent of the country's total population.