According to a recent study published by GSMA and comScore, U.K. mobile internet access is increasing rapidly, indicating that the market for M-commerce may be set to grow.

The report found that approximately 8.8 million mobile owners in the U.K. used an application that connected to the internet during April 2011. The most popular application was Google Maps, which was accessed by 6.4 million users.

“We are excited to release the first public census-level data from the GSMA and comScore on mobile application usage,” said Henry Stevens, media director for GSMA. “Apps have become an important entry point for accessing content on mobile devices and their usage will only increase with the rapid proliferation of smartphones. We look forward to delivering to the U.K. market these critical insights to help understand the mobile ecosystem.”

The growth in mobile internet traffic is largely attributed to the proliferation of smartphone devices. UK Communications Regulator Ofcom has said that over a third of all UK adults now use smartphones. Apple’s iPhone had the most popular with adults, while teenagers appeared to prefer Blackberry handsets instead. Apple’s smartphone was the model of choice for 32 percent of adults, while 37 percent of teenagers favour RiM’s handsets.

Of adult males, 58 percent owned a smartphone, compared to 42 percent of women, whereas for teens it was the reverse with 52 percent of girls owning a smartphone to 48 percent of teenage boys.

Ofcom said that the growth of smartphone use in the UK has led to a dramatic rise in mobile Internet use. Facebook was the most visited website, with an estimated 43 million hours spent on it in December 2014.