China's mobile Internet population surged a whopping 113 percent in 2008 and could see explosive growth in the coming years, said a report issued by the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) yesterday.

The nation's move to deploy third-generation (3G) services will benefit from the rising popularity of a mobile Internet, as more than 117 million subscribers have gone online with their cell phones.

CNNIC said 39.5 percent of Chinese Internet users adopt cell phones to surf the Web.

Students are the main strength of mobile Internet users: 43.5 percent of them use their cell phones to read online news, download music, check email and perform a variety of other tasks.

"The trend will definitely benefit the deployment of 3G services, as more users will opt for high speed data-rich services," said Chi Dazhi, senior analyst of CNNIC.

According to an online survey by Sina.com, China's largest portal website, 65 percent of the nearly 158,000 respondents will try 3G service as long as it is available.

Enabling faster data transmission, 3G networks allow cell phone users to browse online news, watch TV, play online games and many other wireless Internet services.