Mobile internet use is nearing 50 per cent in the UK, according to a new study from the Office of National Statistics. 

The report – called Internet Access – Households and Individual, 2011 – says that 45 per cent of internet users used a mobile phone to connect to the internet in 2011. 

In the last year, 6m people used internet services on a mobile phone for the first time, and the use of wireless hotspots has almost doubled to 4.9m users. 

Younger people have spurred the growth in mobile internet use, according to the ONS. 71 per cent of internet-connected 16-24 year olds used a mobile phone, but the ONS notes in its report that there have been “notable increases across all age groups”.

The ONS also says that female mobile internet users have more than double dsince measurement began in 2009. Women now account for 39 per cent of mobile internet users. 

13 per cent of internet users have used a wireless hotspot to connect to the internet. “The wide availability of these hotspots has encouraged large growth in use over recent years with a seven-fold increase since the 2007 estimate of 0.7m people,” says the report. 

The findings are based on a monthly survey of 1,800 randomly selected adults in the UK. You can read the full report at the ONS website.