More than a year after the introduction of wireless application protocol (WAP) technology just one in eight Esat Digifone customers owns a WAP-compatible handset.

In addition, leaked figures from surveys conducted by Digifone's parent, BT Cellnet, show many users in Britain shunned WAP services during the first quarter.

Wireless application protocol is a technology that enables users of handheld devices and mobile phones to connect to Internet services.

According to reports last week, total visits to BT Genie's WAP Internet site fell by more than 60 per cent, from 115 million in January to 40.5 million in April.

The figures also reveal that the number of minutes BT's mobile phone users spent surfing the Web dropped from 36 million in January to 12 million in April.

Billed as the "Internet in your pocket" in a series of multimillion-pound advertising campaigns at its introduction last year, WAP technology has failed to catch on with consumers.

Figures seen by The Irish Times show just 135,000 Esat Digifone customers own a WAP handset out of a total customerbase of some 1,059,000 users.

In comparison, Eircell claims 35 per cent of its customers own a WAP phone, some 530,000 users.

However, just two out of every five of these customers regularly use the WAP feature.

The figures suggest Irish users, much like their British neighbours, have not taken to WAP services as readily as expected.

An Eircell spokeswoman would not release figures for the time spent using WAP.

However, she said 40 per cent of time spent on WAP was spent on the Who Wants to be a Millionaire game.

"This has been a massive driver of WAP-usage for us. Subscribers to this service use WAP twice as much as other users," she added.

Esat Digifone had not responded to inquiries made by The Irish Times by the time of going to press.

In a further blow to wireless application protocol, it emerged yesterday that one of the most prominent WAP portals and application developers, Finnish firm WAPit, has filed for bankruptcy.