Undesirable Content and Price Plans Blamed for Lack of 3G Uptake

Undesirable Content and Price Plans Blamed for Lack of 3G Uptake

October 19, 2006

TNS Global Technology Insight Study 2006 Reveals Cost is top Obstacle to 3G Adoption

    SHANGHAI, China, Oct. 19 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Despite
mobile phone providers' endeavours to recruit 3G customers,
third generation technology remains a low priority for
mobile users across the globe - and cost is the overriding
factor.  The annual Global Technology Insight (GTI) study
by leading market information company TNS has identified
little increase in 3G technology usage amongst consumers
who see mobile TV and surfing the net as costly and
unnecessary.  

    At a global level, almost a quarter of people cite cost
as the main obstacle to them using 3G (23 per cent).  A
fifth of people (21 per cent) are not downloading songs to
their mobile primarily because of the expense, and 23 per
cent choose not to surf the internet on their phone because
it costs too much to do so. 

    Regionally, although Asia Pacific is home to both
countries with some of the world's highest levels of 3G
usage and countries where 3G is either only just or not yet
available, user sentiment remains the same. Across both
developed and emerging Asian markets it is cost, lack of
need and lack of interest that are the most frequently
cited reasons why mobile users are choosing not to download
music, surf the internet or watch real time television
broadcasts on their handsets. In China, when asked why they
stopped using or not using mobile phone to surf the
internet, 17 per cent expressed that they preferred using
other devices, 22 per cent no needs for that, 9 per cent
not interested in this service, while 15 per cent of uses
said it was too expensive.  

    The study revealed in fact, fewer people globally today
aspire to have these facilities than they did a year ago,
according to the TNS study (7 per cent of those surveyed in
2005 listed 3G as a priority feature to have on future
mobile phones, compared with just 4 per cent in 2006). And
in Asia, where more than half of those not already using
their handset to surf or download express little or no
interest in starting in the next 12 months, it would appear
that significant change to either content or pricing is
needed if 3G is ever going to achieve widespread usage.

    Yet whilst according to the study findings many users
do currently enjoy such plans, there remain many customers
in developed as well as emerging Asian markets that are
still paying for key applications such as surfing the
internet according to the kilobytes used or each individual
time the service is used.

    James Fergusson, Regional Director, TNS Technology,
comments; "Given that cost is such a key obstacle to
the adoption of more advanced mobile services, mobile
operators must provide pricing regimes which are fixed for
unlimited use, transparent and affordable. The introduction
of well priced unlimited use packages would certainly see
fast usage uplift."

    The study did indeed find that the payment plans that
most respondents around the Asia Pacific would prefer for
their 3G services are either `pay once for unlimited use',
`fixed monthly sum for unlimited use' or having the service
bundled as part of the overall contract.  
  
    Other obstacles for many services included such
elements as speed of network, battery life, screen size,
image quality and memory, but their impact pales in
comparison to that of cost. 
 
    About the Global Technology Insight study

    GTI 2006 surveyed 16,000 consumers in 29 countries
during August 2006 to provide key insights into mobile
content and applications, future technologies, brand power,
co-branding and convergence.

    About TNS:

    TNS is a market information group:

    -- The world's largest provider of custom research and
analysis  
    -- A leader in political and social polling
    -- A major supplier of consumer panel, media
intelligence and TV and radio audience measurement
services.  

    TNS operates across a global network in over 70
countries, allowing us to provide internationally
consistent, up-to-the-minute and high quality information
and analysis.

    The group's employees deliver innovative thinking and
excellent service to local and multi-national clients
worldwide.   In the custom business, they combine in-depth
sector knowledge with expertise in the areas of new product
development, positioning and segmentation research, brand
and advertising research and stakeholder management.  

    TNS' strategic goal is to be recognised as the global
leader in delivering value added information and insights
that help our clients to make more effective decisions.

    TNS is the sixth sense of business.

    About TNS China:

    TNS China is one of the first international market
research agencies to start operations in China - way back
in 1992. In recent years, TNS has grown substantially and
established itself as one of the most successful and
reputed market research and consulting agencies in China,
with 120 professional researchers and a total of 250+
employees in three full service offices in Shanghai,
Beijing and Guangzhou. 
   
    For more information go to
http://www.tns-global.com/gti .

    For more information, please contact:

     Cindy Liu
     Tel:   [phone] x156
     Cell:  [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]

SOURCE  TNS China