China Mobile’s 4G push actually picked up speed at the end of the year, with the operator adding 45 million 4G connections in November and December, pushing its 4G total to 312 million.

The operator, which has a 63 per cent share of mobile connections in China and is the largest operator in the world, saw its 4G user base jump by an astounding 222 million last year. 4G connections now account for 37 per of its total subscriber base.

For the first ten months of 2015, it added an average of 17.7 million 4G connections a month – that rate rose to 22.5 million in November and December.

China Mobile’s total connections increased by 19 million to 826 million at the end of the year. Its 3G customers dropped from 246 million to 167 million over the past 12 months.

Rival China Telecom added 12.3 million new connections in 2015, taking its total to 198 million. The number three player, with a 15 per cent market share, combines it 3G and 4G connections into an aggregate figure, but according to GSMA Intelligence, it had 55 million 4G connections at the end of December.

Number two China Unicom has seen its user base drop for 11 consecutive months to 286.7 million. It has lost ten million connections since the end of 2014 and only had 17 million 4G connections at the end of 2015, according to GSMA Intelligence.