BEIJING, June 21 -- The number of 4G users in China stood at 530 million at the end of Q1, exceeding the number of 4G users in the United States and Europe put together, a senior official said on Monday.

China has the world's largest 4G network, covering all cities and major towns, Chen Zhaoxiong, vice minister of industry and information technology told the 2016 China Internet Conference.

China had around 2 million 4G base stations at the end of March, he added.

China's mobile Internet users hit 619 million at the end of last year, accounting for a bit more than 90 percent of the total netizens.

The Internet has become a critical element of China's economic development. The size of the Internet economy amounted to 1.12 trillion yuan (171 billion U.S. dollars) last year.

The conference, which lasts from Tuesday through Thursday, attracted nearly 1,000 attendees from home and abroad.