Low-end devices driving data usage for 3 UK

INQ Mobile, which has developed low-cost 3G handsets for the 3 UK HSDPA network, released numbers that show consumers are aggressively using social networking applications, mobile email and instant messaging on low-end devices. That kind of activity is usually reserved for smartphones and is reaping benefits to 3 UK because it gives the operator higher margins and ARPU because the usage is combined with a lower subsidy device and lower network load costs.

3 UK says it has sold about 700,000 INQ1 devices and its predecessor, the Skypephone, since November 2007.

Of these users, about 65 percent, or 455,000, use Facebook--the main application pushed by the INQ1--almost every day. In addition, about 30 percent of users are regularly using email. About half of INQ1 owners use Windows Live Messenger and about 19 percent are regular Skype users.

For more:
- check out telecoms.com [1]

Related articles:
3UK sets new mobile email benchmark [2] -- unlimited usage
Is 3 UK [3] moving toward a bit-pipe model?
INQ [4] plans more handsets, and looks beyond 3UK