10 million people (in the UK) are accessing the internet on mobilesarticle

Small business owners have been advised that more than 10m Britons are using their phone to surf the internet, according to figures released by Nielsen.

The data means that around 20% of those with a mobile use it to access websites and that all small businesses must have a site that is compatible with mobile technology.

There are now 6.2m smartphone users in the UK after 600,000 people bought one of the latest technology phones since last summer.

"The era of the handset as a truly multi-media device on a mass-market level lies somewhere on the horizon," said Edward Kershaw, head of mobile media at Nielsen.