Three: Mobile data is 97 percent of traffic

Mobile operator Three has revealed that nearly all of the traffic that passes across its network is now mobile data from things like browsing the internet and app usage.

The operator said on Monday that 97 percent of its traffic is now mobile data, adding that it had seen an explosion in customers' usage since June 2010.

"It's even more amazing when you know that since June last year and September this year — just 14 months — we've seen a 427 percent increase in data usage on Three for smartphone customers," Phil Sheppard, director of network strategy at Three, said in a blog post. "Downloading apps, streaming movies, getting around town with Google Maps, even checking in on Facebook — it all adds up."

In the UK smartphones accounted for nearly 70 percent of all handset sales in the 12 weeks leading up to the 31 October, according to market research company Kantar Worldpanel. The company said this means that 43.8 percent of all UK handsets sold were smartphones.

The research also revealed that the majority of smartphones in the UK use the Google Android operating system, which has 49.9 percent market share, followed in second place by BlackBerry with 22.5 percent and Apple with 18.5 percent.

Over the same period, HTC sold more Android smartphones than any other manufacturer using the OS, making up 44.8 percent of Android sales in the past three months, Kantar Worldpanel said.