Even during the crunch consumers will be using more data services

Based on finding from recent research it is anticipated that there will be growth in the mobile broadband market, which will come as a welcome relief to the many mobile broadband providers whose revenues are taking a serious hit as consumers around the world reduce their spending.

Mobile users in the US and Europe intended to increase their mobile data usage dramatically over the next two years, with the next 12 months seeing a significant ramp, according to Nielsen, an industry researcher whilst recently speaking in Barcelona at Mobile World Congress.

It was found that as many as 71 percent of consumers anticipate that they will make use of services like mobile internet on a daily basis and over half of around 200 million users of mobile data expected to use more over the next two years, based on the results of a study of over 50 000 mobile users in the US, France, Italy, UK, Germany and Spain.

“There is a huge opportunity for operators if they get mobile data right,” said the VP of mobile media for Nielsen Online, Jeff Hermann.

Operators can expect an increase in network traffic for email, MMS, photo uploading and mobile internet from about 175 million consumers, according to the survey.

Pat Dolan, the vice president in Europe, Middle East and Africa, for backhaul specialist Tellabs, which commissioned the research said “Mobile data services are not a luxury, but a necessity that consumers plan to purchase despite economic conditions. By planning urgent and strategic network upgrades, operators can quickly and cost-efficiently address users’ issues and meet increasing demands on networks.”

It was shown that the split in anticipated demand will not be an even one with a breakdown of the five top services that non-users will begin using. In the next two years around half of the non-users of the mobile internet in the US intend to use it, which compares to around one third of European non-users. The number of non-users in European countries that intend to begin using MMS comes close to around 40 percent. Germany currently shows quite a low adoption rate across all the services, whereas Italy is the leading adopter throughout Europe.