How UK children use their mobile phone?

A new study, from Halifax, gives some interesting statistics about mobile phone usage by children. More than 75% of 7 to 16 year-old children have their own mobile phone. Penetration increases from 57% in 7-11 segment to 94% for the 12-16 segment. The study also said that children in big cities are bigger mobile phone users than in the country (97% in London vs 56% in the West Midlands). 47% of respondents spend up to 2h per week, with another 28% spending between 2h and 5 h per week. Friends, family members and boyfriends or girlfriends are the most called persons, with respectively 59%, 28% and 12% of calling times. Prepaid is the most popular payment option with 79% of children vs 21% for contract subscription. 40% of children with a mobile phone is responsible for paying their own phone bills. Parents, however, increasingly help to pay the bill (+25% in 2006). The bill is less than €6 per month for a majority of children, from €6 to €30 for 22% of children and above €30 for 20% of children.