According to the statistical announcement of telecom operation industry in 2014 that released by MIIT, 2G subscribers declined 124 million in 2014, which was 2.4 times compared with the number of last year, making its proportion in mobile subscribers declined from the previous 67.3% to 54.7%.
The announcement said that 4G subscribers development speed exceeded 3G in China in 2014, the newly developed 4G and 3G subscribers were 97.284 million and 83.644 million, respectively, reaching 97.284 million and 485.255 million with a penetration rate of 7.6% and 37.7%, respectively. Among them, the net increase of TD-SCDMA and TD-LTE subscribers reached 143 million in total, which was 40 million more than last year, and the portion reached 79.1% and 57.4% in the user increase and the total amount, respectively.
During the second half of December 2014 to the first half of January 2015, the MIIT has issued a total of 378 network access licenses, among which the 4G devices were of 162, accounting for 43% of the total licenses and the 3G devices were only of 7, which was less than 2%.