Opera Software ASA, a mobile Internet browser firm, said that global data traffic through its browser increased 15 percent in October as compared to September, and surged 134 percent from a year ago. The mobile Internet market has flourished following the introduction of Apple (News - Alert) Inc's iPhone in 2007.

In the last few months, Opera has increased its lead over rival browsers, from Blackberry maker RIM, and from Apple and Nokia (News - Alert). According to Web analytics firm StatCounter, Opera controlled 24.5 percent of the market in October. The Blackberry, iPhone and Nokia browsers all have 16 to 18 percent market shares.

Opera has 76.3 million users for its Opera Mini browser, who all access the Internet through Opera's servers, giving the firm usage data, and who generated 616 million megabytes of data traffic for operators worldwide last month.

Wireless operators are seeking on gaining revenue from Internet browsing and the social networking boom as revenue from traditional voice calls declines, but they are facing increasingly congested networks.

In October, global mobile data traffic surged at the fastest rate in seven months. This has given birth to the prospect of new orders for the makers of telecoms equipment. Leading telecoms gear makers such as Nokia Siemens, Ericsson (News - Alert) and Alcatel-Lucent, which have struggled in recent years in the face of aggressive pricing by Asian rivals, expect rising data traffic to lead to new orders.

Fearful of losing customers, only a few operators have publicly admitted to the problem of keeping pace with data traffic, but 63 percent are experiencing difficulties, a global survey showed earlier this month.

Recently, Opera unveiled the final version of Opera Mobile 10.1 for Symbian (News - Alert)/Series 60 phones, with significantly faster JavaScript performance for a speedy browsing experience.

Making its debut in Opera Mobile 10.1 for Symbian is just-in-time compilation (JIT) performance optimization to the Carakan JavaScript engine, the same powerful engine that drives Operas desktop browser.

Sujata Garud is a TMCnet freelancer with three years of writing/editing experience and two years of market research experience. As an editor she has covered the IT, electronics, banking, pharma, construction, mining and healthcare industries. To see more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Jaclyn Allard