A NEW STUDY published today shows the Irish public are turning away from using text messages in favour of internet based services.

The research, conducted by telecoms watchdog ComReg, found that there had been a 24.5% annual decrease in the average number of text messages sent on a monthly basis compared to last year. This put the average number of messages per month at 132.

The total number of text messages sent in the last quarter was over 1.88 billion.

It is thought that this decrease is down to the use of web based messaging services like WhatsApp and Viber.

The quarterly report also found that the more than half (59%) of all mobile phone subscriptions are now smartphones. This is an increase of 14.7% over the last 12 months.

The average revenue per user for mobile phone companies was down by €2 from €27 to €25 compared to this time last year.

In Ireland the trend of there being more mobile phone subscriptions than people in the country continued. In the current figures, which date from the end of June, there was a 0.1% rise from the previous quarter.

The total number of mobile phone subscriptions stands at 5,626,484 – giving us a mobile penetration rate of 122%.

Read: Watchdog investigates Yourtel over Eircom complaints confusion

Also: Some cafes in the US are turning off the free WiFi, is it going to happen here?

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