July 2013
Featured in this insight: IT & telecommunications
Survey sees rise of demand for mobile data use over traditional voice calls: The latest The latest Telecoms market research by price comparison website uSwitch has revealed that when it comes to shopping around for a new mobile contract, data allowance size has now replaced traditional voice minutes as top priority amongst Britons.
Of the 1,649 people surveyed, 43% of respondents chose data as the most important buying factor, compared to 41% who prioritised voice minutes and 17% text allowances. This represents a shifted trend, since the last time they shopped for a mobile contract, 47% said they opted for voice minutes as their main criteria, versus 35% for data and 18% for SMS.
Mobile operators are experiencing a significant loss of revenue for voice and SMS billing – 26% of the surveyants said they chat for less than half an hour each month on their handset, while only 11% chose unlimited minutes on their tariff.
In addition, 23% of respondents claimed they surf the web on their phone for more than five hours a month, while only 9% engaged in the same amount of voice calls. Meanwhile, a major factor affecting the fall in SMS use is the increasing popularity of chat apps.
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