Mobile internet use 'rocketing in Europe'

Europe has taken to 3G faster than any other region in the world and usage is growing rapidly as networks proliferate, according to research commissioned by mobile operator body the GSM Association (GSMA).

The EU's mobile data market grew by 40 per cent last year, to €7bn, the research found, with 3G users doubling to 112 million in the year to April 2008.

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The GSMA said the falling cost of 3G services, handsets and 3G-enabled laptops and dongles are helping to drive the market, and it claimed mobile broadband services in some European markets are now priced lower than comparable fixed-line broadband.

Competition from wi-fi is also helping to bring prices down, it said.

Tom Phillips, chief government and regulatory affairs officer of the GSMA, said in a statement: "We expect prices to continue to fall as operators further innovate around tariffs and more and more Europeans use these services as a part of their everyday lives."

Earlier this year, the European Commission's information society and media commissioner, Viviane Reding, called for "a credible but also doable price reduction by the whole industry on a voluntary basis before 1 July" - or threatened to introduce regulation to force data roaming price cuts.

According to the GSMA research, the average retail price of data roaming in the EU fell by 25 per cent in the year to April 2008, while the cost of text message roaming services dropped 18 per cent in the same period. Data roaming traffic in the EU grew by 75 per cent in the same period, it added.

The GSMA also claimed many mobile operators are now offering data services in large bundles for a flat fee and are introducing measures to inform customers of usage so they can avoid receiving unexpectedly high bills - another situation Reding had signalled her displeasure over.

Speaking back in February, she said: "Consumers should be warned by appropriate mechanisms so they no longer risk receiving shock bills of several thousand euros."

The GSMA research was carried out by Wireless Intelligence and consultancy AT Kearney.