BEIJING -- The number of people accessing the Internet via cell phones will exceed the number doing so via personal computers in China in the coming two or three years, experts predicted on Tuesday.

Experts at a conference organized by the Beijing Communication Industry Association said the "mobile Internet" - meaning online service accessible through mobile terminals such as cell phones - will also drive the Internet's popularization in the world's most populous nation.

"China's mobile Internet has entered a booming period. Mobile app downloads in the country last year accounted for 11 percent of the world's total, second only to the United States," said Chen Jiachun, vice-director of the telecommunications development department under the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

"More than half the nation's netizens use the Internet with their cell phones, with each spending more than 100 minutes online on average every day," added Chen Jiangong, a researcher at the China Internet Network Information Center.

China's Internet users stood at 513 million as of the end of last year, with 356 million getting online through cell phones, up 17.5 percentage points year-on-year, according to CNNIC data.

Experts say the diversity of apps and cheaper access to the Internet with cell phones will also lure more netizens from their PCs to their mobile phones, as mobile services are expanding to more areas such as cell phone payment, shopping and ticket-booking.