UK Has More Mobile Phones Than People

Just 12% of adults have no mobile phone, whilst almost half make do with just one mobile phone, but 40% now have more than one number. One in ten (9%) have more than four mobile numbers and handsets.

Almost 10 million UK men (43%) claimed that they have more than one number, compared to eight million women, whilst half of married and cohabiting people (47%) have two or more phones.

Alison Leonard, first direct’s head of e-commerce, said: “The mobile phone has become the remote control for our lives. We use our mobiles to keep in touch with friends, family and workmates. But the days when we kept just one handset are fast fading, as many of us have different phones for different purposes. With one phone for work, one for friends and potentially a personal organiser or BlackBerry as well, mobilemania has swept the nation.”

However, first direct found that twenty eight million Brits still prefer to speak to family and friends from a conventional telephone and in this respect, women are more traditional than men, with 75% of them choosing to do this if they have the option.

Younger people are most comfortable with mobile phone use, regardless of the situation. Almost half (49%) of young people would prefer to speak to friends on a mobile, compared to just 45% who prefer to use a landline.

A recent report from Gartner revealed that worldwide sales of mobile phones to end users in the second quarter of 2007 reached 270.9 million units, a 17.4% increase from the same period last year (see Worldwide Mobile Phone Sales Grew 17% In Q2 2007).

In separate research, Gartner said that although there are currently 114 million text messages sent daily in the UK, text messaging will be obsolete within the next five years (see Text Messaging To Be Obsolete Within Five Years).