UK Mobile Users Disinterested in 3G

US / Europe : As the mobile industry prepares for 3GSM World Congress, the biggest trade show for mobile industry, new research suggests that UK consumers are finding mobile services increasingly confusing and that issues around ease-of-use are still holding them back from buying and using 3G handsets and services.

Inset is John Hughes, cofounder of Netonomy quoted below.

-- 79% BELIEVE MOBILE PHONE SERVICES ARE BECOMING MORE COMPLICATED

-- 73% OF THOSE WITH 3G PHONES RARELY USE 3G SERVICES

-- SELF-SERVICE SET TO BE THE PRIME CHANNEL FOR 3G CUSTOMER SERVICE

As the mobile industry prepares for 3GSM World Congress, the biggest trade show for mobile industry, new research suggests that UK consumers are finding mobile services increasingly confusing and that issues around ease-of-use are still holding them back from buying and using 3G handsets and services.

According to the poll commissioned by Netonomy, the leader in customer self-service solutions for the communications industry, a staggering 79 percent of respondents believe mobile phone services are getting more complicated to understand and configure, compared with 71 percent of respondents in a similar survey carried out in January 2005. Furthermore, 73 percent of the early-adopters that already own 3G phones rarely use the 3G services and applications available to them. Indeed 28 percent never use them at all.

While technology is intended to make our lives easier, it would seem that consumers are struggling to cope with the emergence of next-generation mobile services. Of those that did not already own a 3G phone, less than half (47 percent) were confident that they would find 3G phones and services easy-to-use and only 8 per cent of respondents are considering upgrading to a 3G phone.

Fortunately, the news is not all bad for operators. The number of users confident that they would find 3G phones and services easy-to-use has grown slightly from 45 percent in the previous survey to 47 percent today. In addition, the percentage of respondents planning to upgrade to a 3G handset has doubled from 4 percent to 8 percent, but unfortunately it still remains in the single digits.

"This research is likely to be a bit disappointing for the mobile industry," comments John Hughes, cofounder and executive vice president of Netonomy. "While there has been an increase since we asked the same question a year ago, real consumer demand for 3G is still low.

Operators have spent billions of dollars on 3G licenses, and billions more on developing the technology, but it still looks like customers are fairly indifferent."

Self-Service on the Rise

Interestingly, 59 percent of 18 to 29 year olds - the early adopters with high disposable incomes that are being targeted for next-generation mobile services - think that quality online customer self-service facilities (such as the ability to set up new services, resolve problems or analyze bills yourself) will make 3G services easier to understand. In fact, it looks like self-service is set to become the primary channel for mobile customer service with around 60 percent of survey respondents indicating self-service as the preferred way to manage their account - compared to 13 percent opting for the call center and 9 percent for going to a high-street store - and 90 percent of self-service users finding it "quite useful" or "very useful" for managing their accounts.

"There is always a great buzz around 3GSM and I have no doubt that this year will be any exception," continues Hughes. "We hope that operators do not get lost in the excitement of new revenue generating services and forget about the implications these new services have on customer service. Operators should recognize the pent-up demand from customers themselves for self-service, and use it to drive the growth they need for 3G."

The research was carried out by YouGov and based on responses from almost 2,000 consumers.

About Netonomy

Netonomy is the leader in customer self-service solutions, providing online account management, e-Commerce and electronic bill analysis for the communications industry. The MyNetonomy customer self-service application suite allows consumers, business customers and POS employees to activate and manage subscriptions, buy new products and services, review, investigate and pay bills, resolve problems, and analyze every aspect of the service relationship using virtually any communications device.

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