THE number of mobile-phone users in the UK may be overstated by as much as 15m, according to a new analysis.

A survey commissioned by Enders Analysis, a research firm, found the proportion of adults with a mobile is wildly at odds with figures reported by Vodafone, Orange, O2, T-Mobile and other operators.

Company figures suggest there are now more mobiles in use than the total UK population of 60m.

Although a number of people may have more than one mobile, James Barford at Enders believes millions of phones are abandoned in drawers and essentially unused. Some are retained on company books because they occasionally receive a text message or a “wrong number” call.

Barford said the number of these “barely active” phones has grown sharply in the past year because of the accelerated pace of handset upgrades.

The Enders study sheds light on an industry conundrum: how the mobile-network operators have been able to report increases in subscriber numbers when just about everybody who wants a mobile phone already has one.

The Enders survey also has bad news on the appetite for new 3G services, such as video calling and video downloads.

It makes particularly gloomy reading for 3, Britain’s first 3G mobile-phone company when it was launched two years ago. Researchers found that almost two-thirds of 3’s customers were planning to switch to another network.

Barford said these findings suggested that the customer-service problems that accompanied 3’s launch had not gone.

Enders estimates that underlying customer “churn” at 3 is running at more than 60% — much higher than at its rivals. Its report stated: “Churn at this level will both delay their break-even profitability by many years and choke off their rapid subscriber growth as their gross additions replace churned customers rather than increase the base.”

The survey also found that nearly 80% of those with a 3G phone had either never made a video call, or had tried to only once.

More than three-quarters of those surveyed were not interested in acquiring a 3G phone, or not very interested. Barely half of 3’s customers realised they already had a 3G phone; a quarter of 3’s customers said they had no interest in acquiring a 3G phone.