More mobile Internet than fixed by 2011

MOBILE INTERNET connections will surpass fixed line connections by 2011, according to a research report from Mobilesquared that's coming out tomorrow and snappily entitled 'Taking Internet Mobile: UK'.

There are predicted to be 42.5 million fixed line users in the UK by 2011, but the number of 3G devices alone will reach 36.3 million. Factor into this six million dongles and embedded devices and there'll be roughly 200,000 more mobile Internet users than fixed line.

A lot of this will be from business users, apparently, with up to 10 per cent of a company's web traffic currently on mobiles.

At the moment just under 27 per cent of the UK's mobile users are accessing the Internet on their phones. But merely because you can get the Internet on your phone doesn't necessarily mean that you'll use it.

Mobilesquared reluctantly agrees, saying in its report that actual Internet use on mobile devices is likely to remain lower than on fixed lines through 2014. But it still reckons that there will be opportunity for people trying to sell you things.

"Mobile will become the primary access point for brands and businesses communicating with its consumers within two years," said Nick Lane, chief analyst at Mobilesquared and report author in a statement.

He also blames the lack of information available and costly price plans for the low numbers of people using their mobile Internet.

"The number of mobile internet users would expand even faster if mobile data pricing reflected existing models, such as variable pricing to appeal to the different demographics," added Lane. µ