Mobile operator 3UK has announced that 97 per cent of all the traffic travelling through its network today is data. The carrier added that in the 14 months between June 2010 and September 201, it has seen a 427 per cent increase in data usage for smartphone customers.

Phil Sheppard, director of network strategy at 3UK, said that the operator’s focus has primarily been on users’ online experience and that its 3G network was made for the mobile internet.

“Downloading apps, streaming movies, getting around town with Google Maps, even checking in on Facebook – it all adds up, and you’re doing it now more than ever,” he said.

He added that, in 2003 when the firm began its journey as a 3G network, few knew how 3G and mobile data could become so relevant in people’s lives, particularly as at the time there was a lack of capable handsets.

3 is the smallest player in the UK market, with just shy of six million users at the end of September.