BEIJING - The number of Chinese mobile phone users topped 1 billion as of the end of February, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said on Friday.

The MIIT said in a statement posted on its website that the total number of mobile phone users increased by 20.67 million during the first two months this year to hit a record high of 1.01 billion.

The number of 3G mobile phone users rose by 15.5 million in the first two months to reach 143.92 million, the statement said.

During the same period, the number of fixed-line telephone users dropped by 828,000 to 284.29 million users.

The number of Internet users with broadband access totaled 154.96 million as of the end of February, with a net increase of 4.96 million during the first two months, according to the statement.