BEIJING, Apr. 26 -- China's three mobile carriers, China Mobile Ltd, China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd and China Telecom Corp Ltd, invested RMB 6.04 billion in 3G network construction in the first quarter of the year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said Thursday.

In 2009, the country's 3G network investment totaled RMB 160.9 billion.

By the end of March, China Mobile had a 3G market share of 42.5%. It was followed by China Telecom with a share of 30.8% and China's Unicom with a share of 26.7%, MIIT said.

In the three-month period from January to March, there was a net addition of 4.83 million 3G mobile telecom users, and the total 3G user base reached 18.08 million.

The number of subscribers who use 3G services based on China's home-grown TD-SCDMA technology reached 7.69 million in the first quarter, according to the ministry.

MIIT said earlier this month that China aimed to have 150 million 3G users by 2011 and that investment in 3G development would hit RMB 400 billion.