The mobile network provider market is at a difficult crossroads. Whilst the advent of 3G and now 4G has opened up operator portfolios to include data connections, vastly increasing potential future revenue streams, that same data and the complexity of the smartphones it’s being pulled down to mean the way that consumers are charged for mobile services like voice and text may soon need to be overhauled. At the same time, increasingly restrictive legislation from the EU will soon abolish operator roaming revenue, forcing the opening of new business streams to maintain income.
This report will look at the networks consumers are with and types of connections they have with them, their contract length and the amount they spend on average per month, the features about their mobile phone contract that they would upgrade if possible, and the factors that are most important to them when picking a new network provider.
Definitions
This report looks at the scope of mobile network usage by consumers.
Mobile networks are defined as networks providing either data, voice or SMS facilities down to a mobile device. Wi-Fi is not included under the “data” category.
Primarily, this report refers to the use of mobile networks through traditional mobile phones or smartphones. However, reference at times is made to tablet devices, as these can connect to the mobile network for data.
Network connections can come in two forms – pre-pay and post-pay. The former involves buying credit for a phone, which is then worked through. The latter refers to the use of a handset with a monthly contract charge covering the previous month’s usage.
Pre-pay is better known to consumers as “pay as you go”, and is referred to as such throughout the consumer sections of this report.
Similarly, “post-pay” is better known to consumers as “contract”, and is referred to as such throughout the consumer sections of this report.
Historical market size data for this report are taken from the Ofcom Communications Market Report 2013, with forecasting carried out by Mintel.
Market size covers the volume of mobile network connections sold to consumers. This includes data-only tablet device connections, as well as dongle connections to a portable router designed to provide internet services by connecting to the mobile network. Market size also covers the value of those connections at retail.
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