GUERNSEY is almost at saturation point for mobile phones, according to Sure marketing director Paul Taylor.

A report shows there are 63,000 mobile customers in the island for a population of about 62,000.

The report, compiled by the Office of Utility Regulation, found that from December 2009 the telecoms market increased by 4.5%, yet despite the number of mobile customers remaining largely unchanged, the average spend per customer had increased by 8.4%.

There were also more than 22,000 internet customers.

Mr Taylor said that the mobile market was nearing its limit.

‘Based on the population, it is hard to see how much more this can grow and so the challenge now for all operators is to work a lot harder by offering customers excellent service, network reliability and value for money.’

However, he believed there was room for growth within the internet market, which had seen a 6% increase in the last six months.

But a spokesperson for Wave said Guernsey did not have a finite market, because technology was always changing, and it was confident that growth would continue.

‘We believe that we are well positioned to attract many new customers as our product portfolio develops. Telecommunications is a fast moving business, whether it is for mobile users, home internet subscribers or businesses large or small.’

In contrast to Sure, a spokesperson for Airtel-Vodafone said that they did not feel there was a saturation point in sight.

‘If you look at individual connections, there is plenty of room for growth. Even now, many people have more than one connection, for a work phone, mobile, BlackBerry or a mobile broadband USB stick.