The Mobile Data Association (MDA) reports that the number of mobile phone users accessing the Internet on their handsets continued to grow during the last quarter of 2006. According to figures released today by the MDA, an overall total of 45.6 million unique users were recorded as having used their phones for downloads and browsing the mobile Internet in the UK throughout October, November and December last year, an average of 15 million each month. These figures show a quarterly increase in the average unique users per month from 13 to 15 million. 
December 2006 boasts the highest user total to date, 15.9 million. This, the MDA believes, is due in part to new and improved phones being given as Christmas presents to increasingly adventurous mobile users keen to get the most from their handsets. It points out that companies are springing up to provide useful services for consumers via the mobile web. This, the MDA believes, along with the snowball effect achieved when users learn more about the capabilities of their phones and discover they can read news and sports stories on their phones while travelling, for example, are factors which should see these figures growing month on month throughout 2007.
The MDA website contains information on how to set up a phone to use the mobile Internet here, as well as a list of mobile websites to view here.