Consumers and businesses are adopting smartphones at a remarkable rate, placing more and more pressure on mobile networks, figures released by Vodafone show.

Tony Baird, Vodafone general manager of networks, says mobile traffic on Vodafone’s network grew from around 60 TB in June last year to 135 TB in the same month of 2011.

This is mostly due to the rise of smartphones, Vodafone says, with 66% of its customers now using the devices. 44% of its SMB customers have one, and 40% of government and corporate users.

In two years, Vodafone expects smartphones to take over from desktops as the number one internet access device in New Zealand.

Facebook accounts for an astonishing 50% of data traffic on the Vodafone network.

Long-term, Vodafone plans to deal with the increased traffic by upgrading to LTE technology, also known as 4G.