Mobile Impressions and Messaging see Uptake

Mobile messaging and Web access are on the rise, according to separate reports released by VeriSign and Bango.

Access of mobile Web sites in the U.S has grown three-fold in the past year, according to Bango. The increase moves the U.S. to the second-highest usage country, behind Great Brittan. In April, the top five countries accessing the mobile Web through Bango-hosted sites are the U.K. (27 percent); the U.S. (21 percent); South Africa (11 percent); India (9 percent); and Indonesia (3 percent).

“What we’re seeing through these numbers is a transformation of the Internet from something connected to a desktop to something mobile,” said Anil Malhotra, SVP of marketing at Bango.

Messaging, including short message service (SMS), inter-carrier short message service (ICASMS), multimedia messaging service (MMS), intercarrier multimedia messaging service (ICMMS), person-to-person (P2P), and application-to-person (A2P), also underwent increases in activity in Q1, 2007. VeriSign’s digital infrastructure enabled messages amounting for over $1 billion in revenue to carriers in the first three months of the year. The revenue figure represents 17 billion mobile messages, up from 8 billion in Q1 of last year.

About 200 million messages are sent on the average day, up from 75 million per day in the same period the year before. Messaging traffic peaks in the early evening hours.

P2P SMS is the most prevalent form of mobile messaging, with 16.1 billion messages in the category sent over the first quarter. In Q1, 122 million P2P MMS were sent, up from 42 million the previous year. A2P messaging is expected to increase. The number of A2P messages was not given, but the report stated over $500 million in revenue to carriers in Q1.

VeriSign works with over 500 carriers and reaches two billion mobile subscribers globally. Bango operates a global exchange in over 190 countries, and is able to measure anonymous activity to its WAP sites and mobile Web presence.