The number of UK consumers accessing the web via their mobile phone doubled in the two years to end 2012, figures from the country’s Office of National Statistics (ONS) show.
A regular review of Internet usage by the ONS reveals the number of mobile web users hit 51% of the population in 2012 compared to 24% in 2010. The study also found that 32% of adults – people aged 16 years and over – access the Internet via their mobile phone on a daily basis.
The total number of adults accessing the Internet across all devices – mobile and PC – hit 33 million in 2012, more than twice the number (16 million) that did so in 2006 when the ONS began gathering comparable statistics.
Other figures revealed by the ONS include a rise in the number of web-based telephone and video calls in 2012 – 32% compared to an estimated 16% in 2009 -, and that 87% of people aged 16 to 24 years old access social media on a daily basis, compared to 48% of all adults.