Vodafone sees east Europeans going mobile for data

Eastern Europeans, with access to a relatively low number of fixed phone lines, will likely use mobile devices for Internet access more often than their western counterparts.

Eastern Europeans, with access to a relatively low number of fixed phone lines, will likely use mobile devices for Internet access more often than their western counterparts, an executive at UK-based mobile operator Vodafone said on Thursday.

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Speaking at the Reuters Telecoms, Media and Technology Summit, Thomas Geitner, chief technology officer at the world's biggest mobile operator by revenue, said he thought eastern Europe would follow in the footsteps of countries with similar telecom market models as the region's purchasing power rises.

"(In eastern Europe), we are seeing countries where the fixed-line penetration is less developed than we're used to in Western Europe," Geitner said.

"In Japan, the penetration of PCs in households is lower than Europe, and data usage on mobile phones has been higher. We don't see any reason not to expect a similar development in eastern Europe," he added.

Vodafone has interests in mobile operators around the region, including in the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Romania.

Earlier this year, a report by the European Union found that none of its eight new members in central Europe was above the EU average of 50.3 fixed lines per 100 inhabitants, with the lowest penetration as of 2003 in Lithuania and Slovakia, at 24 per cent.