A recent survey of American cell phone users conducted by Ipsos MORI on behalf of LogicaCMG Telecoms reveals that users aged 18 to 24 are driving most of the growth in SMS and MMS usage, Cellular News reports. The March 2007 survey polled more than 1,000 American users as part of a larger global survey that polled more than 8,500 mobile users worldwide.

The thirty-something crowd is also catching up with youth when it comes to using mobile data services. The survey also showed adults – like their youthful counterparts – are using their mobile phones to check sports scores, get weather forecasts or order movie tickets.

Among other findings:

--American users send an average of two SMS messages per day, compared with an average of six per day in the European countries polled and 24 per day in the Asian countries polled.
--15 percent of American users are on prepaid plans.
--28 percent of American users have bundled text messaging plans or allowances.

The survey also found a growing concern about the cost and speed of accessing the mobile Web. Men are much more likely to complain about slow surfing speeds and poor video quality than women, while women show more concern about the cost and ease of use of new services than men, according to the survey. Overall, 62 percent of men compared to 38 percent of women expressed concern about surfing speed and video quality, while 56 percent of women compared to 44 percent of men stated they would send videomail messages to their friends if it were easy and cheap to do.

LogicaCMG predicts North American SMS volume growth could grow by “as much as 50 percent in 2007,” spurred by an increase in services such as mobile messaging, voting and “find-the-next” SMS-based mobile search services.