Mobilephone messaging boasts a global industry generating some 80 billion U.S. dollars in the annual revenue, according to the Internet Report launched by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on Wednesday.

The report, titled "digital.life," disclosed that cellphone messaging, as a new comer in the business, took off faster in developing countries including China than in many developed economies.

The report also predicted that the evolution from the second to third generation mobile networks will turn out to be a jump like from analogue to digital.

The report was drafted by a team of analysts from ITU's Strategy and Policy Unit, covering chapters on "going digital," lifestyle, business, identity and living in the digital world.

It was launched on the sidelines of the ongoing ITU Telecom World 2006 show, which was slated from Dec. 4 to 8, attracting some 600 exhibitors and thousands of experts and professionals in the telecommunication sector.

Source: Xinhua