THE REPUBLIC'S mobile phone users spend more time talking and texting than their counterparts in 15 other countries, according to a new report.
The third annual International Communications Market report published yesterday by the British regulator Ofcom found that the State's mobile users talked for a monthly average of just under three hours and sent 154 text messages a month. By comparison, Britain's mobile users sent just 81 text messages monthly.
It is the Ofcom's third report on developments in international communications markets and covers 15 countries in addition to the Republic, including the G7 nations and Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and Sweden.
It also assesses the development of communications markets in the large emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India and China.
It reported that mobile phones were becoming increasingly important in the emerging markets, where 216 million new mobile subscriptions were taken out in 2007.
As with the previous two Ofcom reports, the real winner was the internet. The regulator said people in all 16 countries surveyed spent more time online, with the US ahead at just over 15 hours a week.
The study showed Ireland reporting an average growth in broadband connections between 2004 and 2007 of 5 per cent a year.
Wireless access of a different kind remains extremely popular in the Republic. The only other country where more time is spent listening to the radio is Poland. Poles listen to the radio for an average of 4.8 hours a day. In the Republic the radio is on for 4.2 hours a day.
In Spain and Japan, the radio is listened to for just 1.8 and 2.2 hours a day respectively.
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