Data usage via mobile phones leapt six-fold from 2014 to 2017, while voice calls dropped from 70.72 billion minutes in 2014 to 43.46 billion minutes last year, according to the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC).
NBTC secretary-general Takorn Tantasith said on Wednesday that data used for mobile internet services through three major mobile phone operators totalled 3.29 terabytes in 2017, more than six times the amount used in 2014.
"It is very fast growth. This means that each customer used 4.11 gigabytes of data per month on average last year," he said.
He attributed the growth to the auction of the 2100 megahertz spectrum in 2012 and 900MHz and 1800MHz spectrums in 2015 and 2016, which resulted in nationwide 3G and 4G mobile phone services.
Voice calls via mobile phone reported by the three main operators amounted to 43.46 billion minutes last year, down from 51.02 billion minutes in 2016, 62.85 billion minutes in 2015, and 70.72 billion minutes in 2014.
The duration of voice calls per person dropped from about four minutes per day in 2014 to two minutes per day last year, Mr Takorn said.
In 2017 there were 121.53 million mobile phone numbers on issue, 43.65% of which were provided by Advanced Info Services Plc (AIS), 29.66% by True and 24.69% by Total Access Communication (Dtac), he said.
