New research conducted by telecommunications equipment and services provider Ericsson has found that people are more likely to make use of mobile internet services if they have access to a smartphone.
Head of the Ericsson Consumer Lab Cecilia Atterwall asserted that the more advanced the handset, the heavier the use of the web will be.
The data was drawn from a survey of 2,300 mobile internet users aged between 16 and 59 years old in the US, UK, Indonesia and Brazil.
Network quality and coverage, the cost of using data service and how clear and easy the data plan is to understand were identified as the key factors in a consumer's choice of service provider.
This could be one of the reasons network carrier Three is enjoying some success at the moment, as the firm has effectively put an end to out-of-bundle charges for its UK customers by including all-you-can-eat data in its packages as standard. This should go some distance in putting an end to the much-discussed matter of bill shock.
Indeed, demand for high speed internet on the go seems to be rising unabated, as 40 to 45 per cent of respondents to the Ericsson study stated that they would use their smartphone to access the web much more frequently if they had access to higher speeds.
Ms Atterwall said that people want to see more personalised and dynamic tariffs that are much more closely integrated to their own use of the various mobile services.
"This is because they are not used to having to think about their online habits," the expert remarked, adding: "However, in the primarily prepaid markets of Brazil and Indonesia, the concepts were viewed more positively. People in those markets are used to paying for what they use and topping up when necessary, and therefore they don't perceive it as much of a restriction to their current plan."
Posted by Michael Silverstone