It's for you, and you, and you

Despite recent expressions of concern about the possible hazards of microwave emissions, reported here 23 September, the mobile phone industry appears unstoppable.

During the three-month period ending 30 September, 2.7M phones were purchased in this country - and analysts expect even more to be sold in the run up to Christmas.

From the established business market, all four network operators have expanded rapidly into individual consumer sales - so rapidly, in fact, that they have been left scrambling to keep up with demands for administration, customer service and radio facilities. One obvious piece of evidence is the continued construction of call centres, also reported here.

The industry milestone of half the UK population owning a mobile phone, once projected to be met well after the millennium, looks like it will be achieved some time next year. We still have a way to go before catching up to the Nordic countries, however, where mobiles now handle more traffic than fixed line networks.

Elliott Chase