Mobile broadband dongle subscriptions have risen by over 500 per cent, according to a report released today by Orange.
In its Digital Media Index report, Orange claimed that dongle data usage had grown by a staggering 4,125 per cent in just twelve months with music and video downloads increasing by 38 per cent.
Paul Jevons, director of Products, Portals and Services for Orange, said: "The Orange Digital Media Index shows that the mobile data era' has truly arrived. An explosion in the number of mobile applications and new embedded laptops will boost mobile data demand even further in the coming months."
Another big rise shown in the report is the number of users accessing social network sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, via their mobile phones. This has risen by over 50 per cent with a 48 per cent increase in monthly unique users and a 129 per cent increase in monthly page impressions.
Mobile gaming has also seen a modest rise in use of eight per cent.
Jevons said: "It is clear that innovative, exciting and accessible content for the mobile platform is increasing the popularity of mobile services which are embedded on handsets or downloaded through applications stores."
Click here for our review of the top of mobile dongles.
