TBJ Facebook TBJ Twitter TBJ RSS

Related Articles

Report: Fresno a hotbed for mobile phone Web use

Details
Published on 01/24/2012 - 11:01 am
Written by Business Journal staff
  • Print
View Comments

About 78.2 percent of Fresno's mobile users access the Internet via their phones.About 78.2 percent of Fresno's mobile users access the Internet via their phones.A new study shows that a larger proportion of Fresno-area mobile phone users access the web via their devices than any other part of the state.

An estimated 78.2 percent of Fresno residents are "advanced data" mobile phone users, compared to 72.9 percent of mobile users in Los Angeles, 68.5 percent in the Bay Area, 69.2 percent in Sacramento and 76.1 percent in Bakersfield, according to the "California Mobile Usage Overview" report released today by the Sacramento-based Center for Strategic Economic Research. The report was prepared for AT&T.

In terms of regional proportion of mobile users who visit the Web, the state average is 71.3 percent.

Between the second quarter of 2003 and the first quarter of 2011, the number of advanced data users in Fresno increased by 59 percent. The Bakersfield region yielded the largest jump in the state at 100 percent.

According to the report, an estimated 410,000 Fresno mobile subscribers accessed advanced data on their mobile phones last year, with an additional 89,000 using voice only and another 40,000 using voice and SMS (text messaging).

As a proportion of the population age 13 or older, Fresno's share of advanced data users was 62.5 percent last year, bested only by Modesto at 62.6 percent and Sacramento at 64 percent. The statewide average is 59.3 percent.

Fresno's numbers may be explained by the population living in rural areas.

"Rural communities are increasingly turning to their mobile devices to access the Internet and apps,” said Ismael Diaz Herrera, director of the San Joaquin Valley Rural Development Center, in a statement. “Such access makes a major difference in daily activities, bringing rural communities closer to health care and education access that is more widely accessible in more urban areas and enabling small business owners to optimize their operations using technology.”