Boom time for mobile internet, texts and picture messaging

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Boom time for mobile internet, texts and picture messaging

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By Editorial Team (Tuesday, 29th July 2008)

The Mobile Data Association (MDA) has reported growth in text messaging, mobile internet and picture and video messaging in the first five months of the year.

Some 1.4 billion text messages were in the UK every week over this period. The facility is now a "true social connecting tool" with mass consumer appeal, according to the MDA.

Mobile internet has seen steady growth in the UK, with 16.5 million people accessing internet on the go in May alone, compared with around 12 million in May 2006.

The MDA is now calling for greater price transparency on the costs associated with using mobile internet services.

Picture and video messaging is showing "excellent and sustained" growth, says the MDA, with ten million picture messages sent every week in the UK.

Commenting on the findings, Rob Bamforth, principal analyst at Quocirca, said: "In recent years the mobile phone has become one of the three most important items people carry, along with keys and a wallet or purse, when heading outside."

A recently-published report from ABI Research predicted that short message services (SMS) will account for 83 per cent of worldwide messaging revenues by 2013.