Orange's fifth Digital Media Index revealed an over explosion in data usage across its network, although the vast majority of it came from broadband dongles rather than handsets. Dongle data usage increased by 4,125 per cent in twelve months, while handset data usage grew 108 per cent.

In the entertainment space, music and video downloads each grew 38 per cent while there was an eight per cent rise in the number of games downloaded.

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. Customers are repeatedly enjoying the intuitive and seamless mobile internet experience.

"An explosion in the number of mobile applications and new embedded laptops will boost mobile data demand even further in the coming months.”

The number of customers accessing social networking sites via their phones also increased, with unique users rising by almost 50 per cent since the last report.
There was a 129 per cent increase in monthly page impressions and a 53 per cent increase in the average number of pages per user, per month.

The Orange Digital Media Index recorded usage patterns across Orange’s entertainment and communications services between December 2008 and February 2009.