Six in 10 adult Canadian Internet users own a cellphone and one in five use the devices mainly for business purposes, a new Canadian study suggests.

Market research firm NFO CFgroup said last week that its Wireless Telephony study reveals that while just five per cent of online Canadians plan to cancel their landline home phone service and go totally wireless, about 12 per cent are currently using their cellphones as their primary personal phone.

"Cellphone ownership is higher among those who use the Internet than those who do not. For a good indication of the market potential of new wireless devices, surveying the online population is a good place to start," said NFO CFgroup public affairs director David Stark.

The study found that eight per cent of online Canadians are using Web-enabled cellphones, mainly for e-mail, compared to four per cent of all Canadians. One in four online adults expressed interest in the phones, noting they might be enticed to go totally wireless if there were lower access prices, bigger screens and more content.

About 30 per cent of respondents said they are interested in the development of videophones, although 58 per cent said they don't care to be able to see who they're talking to on the phone.

Another emerging wireless device, PDA cellphones, appeals to 15 per cent of online Canadians, most of whom say they would want the device to be Web-enabled.

The study also revealed support for location-based mobile Web services, which are popular in Japan and some European countries but not yet available in Canada. The technology allows users to receive driving directions, weather reports and traffic updates through their cellphones.

The Wireless Telephony report is part of NFO CFgroupÃs State-of-the-Net series of studies on the Internet marketplace in Canada. The survey was carried out using the firm's national weekly Internet omnibus service, NFO Fast Feedback.

E-mail invitations were sent to 2,500 members of NFO CFgroup's Internet panel, which comprises 35,000 Canadian Internet users who have agreed to participate in survey research from time to time. In total, 986 online interviews were completed between November 10 and 20 last year.

The results are considered accurate to within 3.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.