Data from The Cloud has revealed the UK’s mobile web usage habits, with the wi-fi provider’s analysis revealing a huge increase in the amount of time spent on browsing the internet.
The data, pulled from The Cloud’s network of more than 22,000 public hotspots, showed a 78% increase in the time logged on to public WiFi when compared with 2013, with over 28 billion minutes being spent online.
Smartphones remained the most common way to connect, accounting for 89% of usage. Android saw the largest user growth year-on-year at 49%, whilst tablets continued to show an increase in use at 21%.
Overall, 2014 saw an increase of 34% in user base for The Cloud, resulting in an active user increase from 9 million to over 12million.
Roger Matthews, Commercial Director, The Cloud said: "In business, the digital sector is now worth £71 billion to the UK economy. That means we spend a vast amount of our lives online and it is shown clearly in our new figures."
The growth of consumers connecting to The Cloud is one that Matthews expects to continue with reliability being key to success:
"As rich media content becomes more popular, we expect 2015 to bring an increased demand for reliable, high-speed connectivity. Because of this, we believe tech savvy users will start auto-connecting to The Cloud network to save on data."
"We are an increasingly digital generation and the larger screens that tablets offer are well-suited to content-obsessed consumers who devour everything from movies to gaming," explained Matthews.
"2015 will bring more rich media, more streaming and more WiFi minutes than ever before. This is an exciting era in digital and the UK public are undoubtedly embracing it."
