The cellphone number 18888888888 has received a whopping 120 million yuan ($17.4 million) bid in China, The Straits Times reported citing a local Chinese media outlet.

The price is exclusive of a cellphone unit, call time and data charges. Although it is not known who made the staggering bid, the Beijing number has been registered under a Chinese firm from Shantou.

Mobile subscribers usually pay for customized phone numbers like those with repeated digits, have a significant meaning to them, or those with many eights and sixes.

Although such phone numbers usually sell at a high price in China, the latest bid has set a record for the most expensive number ever auctioned.

The money received will reportedly be given to charity.

 In Chinese, the number eight is not only considered the luckiest number but also its pronunciation "ba" sounds like the Mandarin word for prosperity "fa."

It can be recalled last year that Chinese firm Bridge Capital and Australian iProsperity Group also made a historic offer to buy the 333 Kent Street office tower in Sydney's Central Business District for A$88,888,888.88.

Vince Kernahan, one of the agents from Colliers International, the real estate broker handling the sale, said that this is not the first time that Chinese buyers have chosen to offer a price that includes numbers that are considered lucky.

"The buyer's offer was very close to several other offers. They just chose these numbers for luck and as it turned out their luck was with them," Kernahan told BBC, noting that the property, which lies in the heart of Sydney's busy Western Corridor, attracted nine suitors who have all exceeded the expectations of owner Maville Bay Group.

The 24-level high-rise building will be developed into a residential building and high-end hotel, capitalizing the view of Darling Harbour. It will have about 179 hotel rooms and 69 residential apartments.