Brits bought an extra 3.6 million mobile phones between June and September, figures due out next week are expected to show.

This estimate from Deutsche Bank would top the 3.4 million new subscribers for the second quarter of the year and bring the UK mobile phone population to 34 million.

Market leader Vodafone is tipped to have an extra 820,000 customers, compared with 572,000 in the second quarter and 701,000 in the third quarter of 1999, Reuters reported. Orange will remain the fastest grower of the four with 1.1 million additional users.

BT Cellnet earlier this month said it expected to add 630,000 customers in the quarter, while One2One is tipped for around one million.

The subscriber figures, due to be released at the end of next week, will be accompanied by details on how often customers are using their phones for text messages or WAP. ®

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