Mobile phones becoming more crucial to people

The International Communications Market report by the British regulator Ofcom said mobile phones are becoming more crucial to people, especially in emerging markets where growth is very strong. Some 216 million new mobile subscriptions were registered in Brazil, Russia, India and China in 2007, with China alone adding more new connections at 88 million than the total number of subscriptions in Britain. Take up in Russia increased nearly 1,000 percent. Residents in the Republic of Ireland spent the most time -- 179 minutes per month on average -- on their mobile phones and sent the most text messages per head in the world in 2007, according to a report which examines changes in the communications industry. mobile phone users in Ireland sending an average of 154 text messages a month, nearly double the figure in Britain of 81.