BEIJING, May 12  -- The production of 4G mobile phones surged by 472 percent year on year to hit 37.8 million sets in April, according to a state research institute on Tuesday.

In total, 45.2 million cellphones were produced in April, an increase of 11 percent year on year. Production of lower-end 2G and 3G cellphones saw a decline of 2.5 percent and 91.6 percent year on year respectively, according to statistics released by China Academy of Telecommunication Research.

The output of 4G mobile phones grew by 658.7 percent year on year in the past four months while that of 3G models dropped by 89.5 percent year on year.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a guideline on the special action of promoting broadband in China last Friday to increase Internet speed and coverage and give more people access to fast and convenient connections.

Over 600,000 new 4G network base stations will be built to cover more townships and villages. More than 40 million households will have access to optical-fiber broadband, and over 200 million mobile phone users will become 4G network users by the end of this year, according to the guideline.

About 60 million more people signed up to 4G accounts in the first quarter, meaning that 162 million people in China are 4G customers, according to government statistics.