Aussies love their mobile phones

There are now more active mobile phones in Australian than there are people, a new Government study of the country’s communication habits has found.

iTWire reports that, according to The Australian Communications and Media Authority communications report for 2006-07, there were 21.26 million mobile phone services in operation at the end of the 2006-07 financial year. Given that the population at the time was 21 million, that adds up to a mobile phone for every man, woman and child in the country – and then some.

The 21.26 million mobiles in operation in 2006-07 was a relatively steady 7.6% increase on the previous year. Interestingly, however, most of that increase appears to have come from the 3G mobile phone segment.

As of 30 June 2007, there were 4.5 million 3G mobile phone connections in operation in Australia, a 192% increase over the 12 month period, pointing to an increasing consumer appetite for the mobile internet and entertainment functions the web-enabled phones provide.