Mobile Broadband use soars in the UK – Mobile Broadband Genie Reports

March 20, 2008 - PRLog -- If there was any doubt that Mobile Broadband was rising in popularity in the UK at a dramatic rate, new research from iPass Mobile Broadband Index (formerly known as the iPass Wi-Fi Hotspot Index (www.ipass.com)) has provided statistics showing London to be the most Wi-Fi-hungry city in the world.
The survey, which took into account numbers for the second half of 2007, found that around 30,000 Wi-Fi sessions took place in London with an average session length of 72 minutes, heralding a growth of 156% over the previous year and making up 1.3% of worldwide total Wi-Fi usage in the word. Second in the list of top cities came Singapore with a mere 0.5% of the worldwide total.
The US came on top of Top 10 countries list for the heaviest Wi-Fi use, buying four times as many sessions as the UK, who were positioned at number two in the list. However growth for the US was only 60%, compared to the UK’s 121%. In terms of Annual Growth from 2006, Germany showed the biggest increase in usage with a staggering increase of 243%, settling them in at number three.
In the UK, 3G connections accounted for most of the mobile broadband connections with an increase from over 150MB per user per month in the third quarter to almost 200MB in the fourth quarter.
Public hotspots such as airports and railway stations accounted for the dramatic rise in Wi-Fi use in the UK, with Heathrow airport hosting 41,557 sessions since last year. In comparison, O’Hare Airport in Chicago gathered the highest number of sessions at 78,810.
For worldwide Retail Venue hot-spot statistics, Cafés were the most popular destination making up 11% of the worldwide total. Restaurants rose in popularity by 217% to account for 4% of the worldwide Wi-Fi sessions, whilst trains and ferries came third on the list, thanks to an increase of 238% since last year.
Ciaron Dunne from Mobile Broadband Genie commented on the latest statistics from iPass: “The findings from iPass proves that the UK is lapping up Mobile Broadband at a very impressive rate. Most interesting are the stats on 3G connections as this is where the future really lies,” he continued. “Suggestions have been made that public Wi-Fi will fizzle out not before long. However, if that is the case then increased popularity of 3G only goes to show that mobile broadband is merely evolving. There won’t be a need for public Wi-Fi as everyone will be swayed towards subscribing to their own mobile broadband account.”
To find out more about 3G other mobile broadband lingo, visit the Mobile Broadband Help page from Broadband Genie at http://mobile.broadband genie.co.uk/help/.
Notes to editors

Mobile Broadband Genie allows users to compare broadband online, and is part of Genie Group.

Genie Group Ltd is a leading independent provider of internet comparison shopping services in the UK, and was set up in 2004 by Philip Wilkinson (co-founder of Kelkoo UK). Genie Group's unique selling point is 'the Genie', which makes personal recommendations to internet shoppers based on ground-breaking, intelligent technology. This gives Genie Group the ability to provide an enjoyable and satisfying internet shopping experience, and deliver an unmatched quality of sales leads to our affiliate merchants. Genie Group launched its flagship broadband comparison service Broadband Genie in January 2005.

More information can be found at http://www.broadbandgenie.co.uk . Please direct all media enquiries to Stephanie Rogers. Interviews with Philip Wilkinson can be arranged on request.

Website: www.broadbandgenie.co.uk