Mobile broadband numbers soar

The number of people using mobile broadband in the US went up by a massive 154% in the year to 2007, comScore research shows.

Just over 850,000 people were using mobile broadband in the US in the fourth quarter of 2006, but by the same period in 2007 that number had shot up to 2,168,000.

The finding is quite remarkable in the context of the relatively mature US internet market, and suggests much faster speeds, higher download limits and lower costs introduced by mobile broadband providers in countries like the US and Australia over the past year are having an impact.

According to comScore, the explosion in mobile broadband is largely attributable to business users, with 59% of computers with mobile broadband in the US located in workplaces.

And of the 41% personal users, the majority are likely to be well-educated and wealthy; people with incomes of at least $US100,000 were 37% more likely than average to use mobile broadband, while people with incomes below $25,000 were 41% less likely to do so.