Japanese social gaming company DeNA has made its biggest move yet to expand into China, striking deals with the country’s three largest operators – China Mobile, China Unicom and China Telecom.

The three operators, which have close to one billion subscribers, are already featuring Chinese versions of titles for the Mobage China social games platform for Android smartphones via their official app stores.

With Android’s Google Play store currently not supported in China, local operator services are a popular way for smartphone users to find and acquire apps.

China Mobile’s Mobile Market has been offering games from Mobage China since 1 March while China Unicom launched a Mobage China section on its Wo Store on 8 March. China Telecom added the Mobage titles to its Tianyi Space app store on 29 February.

China Mobile is also offering subscribers direct operator billing for purchases made from Mobage China, allowing them to be charged directly to monthly phone bills. DeNA plans to introduce the same option for China Unicom and China Telecom subscribers by the summer.

DeNA launched Mobage China for Android in July 2011 and for iOS in November 2011. The company has since made a number of alliances to boost its presence in China, including deals to link its Mobage China platform to the Weibo.com microblogging service (300 million users) and availability from search company Baidu’s Yi mobile app store.

DeNA has also struck deals with Chinese social network Kaixin001, to allow its 120 million  users to access Mobage China using their existing log-in details, and formed a joint venture with Chinese game developer Netdragon to develop mobile social games tailored to the Chinese market.