There is strong latent demand for mobile phone broadband services, but the majority of users are discouraged from using the web on their handset due to the cost.
Despite this, new research from YouGov and broadband analysis company, Point Topic forecasts that that UK is poised to see rapid growth in the number of mobile phone users accessing the internet from their handset.
According to the YouGov and Point Topic study, email tops the list of mobile internet usage (more than one third, 38% of respondents already use it and another 37% would like to), closely followed by browsing the internet (three out of ten already do, another third would like to) and accessing travel information (28% and 39% respectively).
So while there aren’t as many people left to sell handsets and contracts to, there are increasing numbers who want to have their online lives at their fingertips wherever they are and many already have the necessary equipment. Plus they are prepared to pay for it. Half of respondents interested in online services would pay £15 per month, but it’s not enough for the operators. Currently an average movie file can cost up to £300 to download on a mobile device and a single music track can be as much as £14 if it’s not part of your monthly data download allowance.
Unsurprisingly almost four out of ten (37%) of respondents cite the cost of sending and receiving data as the biggest disadvantage of mobile broadband today, three out of ten say it is the cost of the devices and 28% say it is the cost of accessing useful data. Security, by comparison, one of the biggest concerns for fixed line users, scores less than 2% on this scale!
Point Topic commenting on the results said: “Plainly there is some way to go before the desires of the users meet the business models of the providers, particularly when voice traffic continues to provide much higher revenue/bit than data, and while operators are still trying to justify spending £22bn on 3G mobile broadband licences. But there’s a large and willing market just waiting for the right deals to come along.”
