Mobile Calls Make up one third of UK Total

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has given a snapshot of phone and internet usage in Britain with its recent report on the communications markets in the UK. The London-based watchdog reports that consumers and business users are spending less time on landline connections with mobile usage now accounting for over one third of all phone calls made in the UK.

Ofcom pointed out that its own figures show that mobile phone call minutes totaled 82 billion last year, out of an overall total of 234 billion. However, despite this growth only 9% of all homes relied solely on mobile connections, compared to 7% that only had a landline the report said.

Overall fixed line subscriptions continued to decline, with 33.6 million last year, down 1.5% from the year before. Part of the attraction of mobile phone usage was, the report said, the increased availability of gadgets such as Blackberries and other PDAs - as well as new competitive tariffs.

The report further showed a slight growth in the number of children using mobiles, with 53% of eight-to-15-year-olds using a mobile connection last year, compared to 50% the year before. The regulator reported that the average cost of all telecoms (landlines, mobiles, texts and broadband) fell during the year to £69.85 for consumers in 2006, compared to £76.36 in 2005.