Telus Mobility customers sent and received 5.4 billion text messages in 2010, up from 2.7 billion the year before.

The exploding popularity of texting was undoubtedly fueled by the growing number of feature-rich smartphones on the market, including many with built-in QWERTY keyboards. As of the third quarter of 2010, more than a quarter (28%) of Telus customers were using smartphones, up from 18% in 2009.

“2010 was really the year where consumers started getting into data in a big way,” said Telus spokesman, Shawn Hall. “It used to be the territory of the business user — you know the black suit BlackBerry, but with the iPhone and really nifty Android and more consumer-oriented BlackBerrys hitting their stride, more and more consumers are picking up smartphones.”