The total number of internet users in China is estimated to have surpassed 500 million as of November 2011, whicmeaning that one of every three Chinese uses internet, the China Internet Network Information Center (CNNIC) said Wednesday.

China’s internet users is estimated to have reached 505 million, up front 485 million at the end of June, and the internet penetration rate rose to 37.7 percent in November, up 3.4 percentage points from the end of 2010, the report said.

Moreover, Chinese internet users with broadband connection have reached 15,509,000 users, an increase of 18.6 percent since last year; smart phone users have surpassed 340 million, representing roughly 65.5 percent of all internet users. The total number of domains in China is 3,413,127.

Up until November 2010, 3G network users have surpassed 119 million, which represents an 11 percent penetration rate, said Gao Xinmin, vice president of the Internet Society of China, quoting the country’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. 3G network coverage now encompasses most of the provinces and cities.

Micro-blogging, electronic commerce and mobile payment services all continued to maintain a high speed of growth in 2011, said Gao Xinmin at the conference.

Shanghai-based internet consulting firm iResearch reported that the value of China’s Internet economy surged 72.7 percent year–on-year to 71.6 billion yuan (US $11.3 billion) in the third quarter of 2011.

China’s internet population now represents a quarter of the world’s internet users. Within a matter of months, it has grown from 457 million users in early 2011 to 505 million users. According to forecast made by Mckinsey & Company, a world premier management consulting firm, China’s internet user population will reach 750 million people.