China Mobile, the world’s largest operator with 824 million connections, added 17.3 million new customers this year, after a net gain of 1.07 million connections in October.

China’s market leader added nearly 20 million 4G connections in October alone, with most of the additions migrating from 2G and 3G plans. It now has 267 million 4G customers, up from 107 million in January, which represent 32 per cent of its user base. It accounts for more than 80 per cent of the country’s 4G connections.

Its 3G customer base, meanwhile, dropped from 241 million in January to 187 million in October. The operator didn’t breakout its 2G numbers, but GSMA Intelligence figures show the number falling by almost 91 million to 380 million since the beginning of the year.

China Mobile’s 2G numbers have been falling since Q4 2012, when they peaked at 622 million. Its 3G connections peaked at almost 246 million in Q4 2014, a year after it launched 4G services, according to GSMA Intelligence.

Number two operator China Unicom had 287.6 million connections at the end of September, after suffering three consecutive quarters of declines. Its user base peaked at 299 million a year ago.

China Telecom, the country’s third largest mobile player, added less than nine million connections over the past nine months, taking its total to 194 million.