£5bn mobile phone waste bill ‘mostly down to Blackberry mums’

Mothers who spend more time using their Blackberry phones than they do speaking to their children are wasting billions of pounds, according to a new report.

The overspend equates to hundreds of pounds per mum, with those on maternity leave worst affected.

The study by Billmonitor, an Ofcom-approved bill analysis service, found UK mobile phone users could save £5bn if they switched tariffs and if mothers stopped buying woefully simplistic games for their handsets.

“Blackberry Messenger might be free, and their call allowances and text message limits are sky high, but that’s clearly not enough for the mum of today,” said a spokesperson for mobile phone industry analysts the DMS Group.

“With additional costs such as sending photos of the children they are too busy photographing to play with it gets very expensive for mums.”

Campaigning group Netmums said the excess spending is a cry for help from mothers who are struggling to cope with the demands of modern parenthood.

“It’s so difficult to be a mum these days. Choosing between Costa or Starbucks. Trying to text while your baby is crying for milk… It’s tough.” said Netmums’ Shelagh Archer, who is also the UK Bejeweled for Facebook champion.

“I’m a professional mum myself and my husband doesn’t understand me. He comes in from working a long day and is no help. He just sits there messing around on his iPhone – it’s absolutely infuriating.”