Mobile internet usage up by 25%

Third quarter of 2008 sees boom

24 November 2008 12:11 GMT / By Katie Scott

Mobile internet usage is growing eight times faster than PC-based internet growth.

This is according to new results from Nielsen Online, which says that the number of us Brits accessing the internet via mobile devices increased by 25% in the third quarter of 2008.

Usage went from 5.8 million to 7.3 million people between the second and third quarters of 2008.

Statistics show that BBC News was at the top of the list with 24% of mobile internet users logging on, followed by BBC Weather, Sky Sports and Gmail.

Kent Ferguson, senior analyst at Nielsen, commented: "The fact that weather, sports, news and e-mail sites make up the majority of leading mobile sites shows that mobile internet is mainly about functionality and need at the moment, as opposed to the more entertainment and e-commerce-focused make-up of the leading PC-based sites".