China's 4G users touches 530 million, world's largest

High-speed network 4G has become immensely popular in China as the number of its users shot to 530 million in Q1 this year, exceeding the number of 4G users in the US and Europe put together, a senior official said on Monday.

China has the world's largest 4G network, covering all cities and major towns, Chen Zhaoxiong, vice minister of industry and information technology told the 2016 China Internet Conference.

China had around two million 4G base stations at the end of March, he added.

China's mobile Internet users hit 619 million at the end of last year, accounting for a bit more than 90% of the total netizens.

The Internet has become a critical element of China's economic development, he said.

The size of the Internet economy amounted to 1.12 trillion yuan ($171 billion) last year.