Streaming video footage now accounts for 35 per cent of all mobile data carried over the mobile networks. YouTube is ahead of the game supplying 40 per cent of the traffic, so there’s no escape from the box anymore since mobile data arrived on our small screens.

The figures come from the recent Allot report and are based on mobile data passing through operators around the world with a total of 190m subscribers. That data shows video streaming in the first half of 2010 was almost double the previous six months, and is now the largest consumer of mobile data bandwidth as everyone seems to be watching TV on the move.

All this is fine when using the mobile data services in your home country but as soon as you use mobile data when you’re abroad the picture changes considerably.

However, mobile users can still access big savings on mobile data across Europe with a Global SIM card from 0044 Ltd enabling users to access mobile data rates of £1.60 per MB. With a 0044 Global SIM the user is also always in control because the payg SIM allows them to top up as they need to. Frequent usage will simply exhaust their credit on mobile data usage rather than provide them with a hefty bill.

By using a 0044 SIM for mobile data (the small removable chip inside your handset) on the 0044 website and having your handset unlocked most voice, text and mobile data charges can be avoided. Calls and SMS messages made are at lower rates and incoming calls and texts are free. Kids in particular are often not aware of higher call charges for mobile data when roaming, resulting in thousands of UK holidaymakers receiving massive mobile data bills when they return. A 0044 SIM can also enable kids to get on-line to update their social network sites with their web enabled handsets and the fact that the 0044 SIM is payg means they won’t run up huge mobile data charges either in the process.

Angus Macleod, director of 0044.co.uk commented, “I needed to take my mobile phone abroad even though it was costing me a lot and the kids also were set on using their own. Our normal network didn’t have a cost effective mobile data solution so we discovered the payg SIM alternative. Like many of the best ideas in life, our service is east to use.”