A global market research organization says Sri Lanka’s future consumer patterns will be shaped by the growth in internet usage via mobile phones with greater access to social networking sites, particularly among the 16 to 35 years age bracket.

“Close to 70 percent of the population has a mobile phone, and ownership is much higher in the 16 to 35 age group,” said Shaheen Cader, managing director of Nielsen Sri Lanka, part of a global marketing and research company with a reach of over 100 countries.

Mobile penetration, which measures the level of active mobile numbers among a given population, stands at over 80 percent in Sri Lanka, corresponding to more than 16 million mobile connections among a population of nearly 20 million.

There are nearly two million internet users in Sri Lanka, representing 14 percent of the population. Of this, 1.2 million users access the internet weekly or more often with the majority being in the 15 to 25 years age group where internet usage is as high as 26 percent.

“These are forces of modernism which can impact how society will move in the next couple of years, because some of these growths can be exponential,” said Cader.

Cader was one of the main presenters at a consumer insights forum organized by the Sri Lanka Institute of Marketing (SLIM) with Lanka Business Report/ETV acting as official media sponsors for the event.

A quarterly report published by Business Monitor International (BMI) in February this year showed that the broadband market would be the new growth area for mobile operators in Sri Lanka, as broadband penetration stood at a mere 0.5 percent.

Approximately 46 percent of users access the internet through their mobile phones, 10 percent exclusively and 36 percent through a combination of modes including mobile devices.

“Internet use will be driven further by newer handsets coming into the market at low prices,” said Cader.

Social networking has also taken off in a big way in the country. Of the total number of users accessing the internet through their mobile phone, 42 percent went to social networking sites such as Facebook.

“Facebook is the new mobile phone,” said Cader.

He said over 900,000, or nearly half of the total number of internet users in the country, are on Facebook, with 78 percent in the 18 to 34 age group.