Ground Truth, a new launched mobile analytics firm, claims it has the most precise mobile Internet usage numbers from partnerships with wireless carriers and other data aggregators.

The company uses census-based measurements from a segment of 2.5 million mobile subscribers in the United States to produce weekly numbers. Ground Truth claims it tracks actual data ? its findings are not based on survey results.

?There are three things that make us a far better solution,? said Michael ?Luni? Libes, founder and chief technology officer of Ground Truth, Seattle. ?We measure actual data, we measure what people actually do on a mobile site and it?s not a survey ? something they have to a recall month later.

?We report on a timely basis,? he said. ?The information comes out every week, it?s actual info. Compared to comScore and Nielsen, their info is normally two-to-three months old.?

Ground Truth is positioning itself to deliver mobile intelligence required for carriers, advertisers and publishers to measure, optimize and grow their businesses. 

True view
The data comes from True View, a patent-pending census-based methodology.

True View takes non-personally identifiable usage data from carriers and other data providers to establish mobile metrics such as number of unique visitors, page views, sessions, session length and advertising clicks.

Ground Truth also offers insights into the mobile clickstream.

The measurement firm can tell where a site?s traffic comes from, where it goes and the other properties commonly visited by a site?s audience.

?We?re going to be a game-changer in the marketplace,? Mr. Libes said. ?Our goal is to bring info that helps move the needle.?

All the data comes from carriers and other data providers nationwide.

The company claims the information it provides is critical to media planning and site optimization, and has previously been unavailable to advertisers and publishers.

Ground Truth is venture-backed by Steamboat Ventures and Voyager Capital.

Bang on
Per Ground Truth, the top 10 mobile Web sites for the first week of January, in descending order, are: MySpace, Facebook, Google, MocoSpace, FunForMobile, AirG, Yahoo, Cellufun, Mbuzzy and Myxer.

The rankings do not include pages served by carrier portals.

More than half of the most popular sites accessed by mobile users are mobile-oriented sites such as Mocospace, AirG, CrushOrFlush, Myxer and Cellufun.

Ground Truth is targeting publishers, brands, agencies, market research firms and investment banks to use its data.

Mr. Libes said Ground Truth can give an accurate measure of the mobile ad networks and the ads they serve.

Bango has similar offerings to Ground Truth. But Mr. Libes argues that while it does offer site analytics and gives great statistics, Bango cannot tell users where they rank or where the site lost traffic to.

?Ground Truth?s data will give marketers the visibility into the mobile Web that they need to better plan and evaluate their mobile campaigns every week, including browsing patterns and engagement metrics,? said Jason Spero, vice president and general manager for North America at  AdMob, San Mateo,CA.

?This unbiased information is critical and was previously unavailable in the market, which made justifying mobile strategies?and spending?a real challenge,? he said.