Mobile web usage surge raises hopes of gear demand

By Tarmo Virki, European technology correspondent

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Global mobile data traffic continued to surge in September, raising the prospect of increasing demand for battered telecom equipment makers.

The largest Internet browser firm Opera Software ASA said on Tuesday global data traffic through its mobile browser rose 8.7 percent in September from August. Opera's data traffic was up more than three-fold from a year ago.

The mobile Internet market has boomed since 2007 introduction of Apple Inc's iPhone, which has increased all handset makers' focus on Internet usage on the phones.

"Apple has aggressively shone the light on this space," said Simon Wilkinson, chief executive of Myriad Group AG, whose Openwave browser has been installed on 2 billion phones.

Wireless operators are keen on raising revenue from Internet browsing and the social networking boom as revenue from traditional voice calls declines, but they are facing increasingly congested networks.

This is helping browsers like Opera, which packages up to 90 percent of the data to save network bandwidth.

Opera said in its monthly mobile Internet report that packaging of data enables mobile Internet users in total to save $8.1 billion a year in the top 10 countries alone.

Opera has increased its lead over the iPhone browser in the last few months and controls 26.9 percent of the market in October so far, according to Web analytics firm StatCounter. The iPhone browser and Nokia browser followed with 21.2 percent and 20.8 percent of the market.