Operators Missing Out on Roaming Revenues, says Acision
- Wednesday, July 1st, 2009
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Research released by messaging company Acision suggests that the EU roaming legislation which came into force yesterday will be widely embraced by consumers, since only 12% of people currently use their mobile abroad as much as they do at home.
Acision commissioned Toluna, the online market research panel provider, to carry out the research among a nationally representative sample of 2,000 UK mobile phone users aged 16 and over from 12 13 June 2009.
Operators are missing crucial revenue opportunities, the company says, as the research reveals that consumers are abandoning their usual mobile habits, despite their appetite for browsing the Internet, updating their social networking status, and talking and texting when holidaying. Over two thirds (62%) of consumers admit to not knowing how much it costs to use their phone abroad and only one in 10 feel they are being charged a fair price. Acisions Flexible Charger is designed to overcome this issue by allowing operators to provide real-time billing transparency for their customers.
The research shows that if consumers were able to set a limit on their spending when using their mobile phone abroad, 42% would use their mobile more. Similarly, if operators were to offer more specific bundles for subscribers when abroad, targeted at individual usage patterns, 67% of consumers would buy a bundle to phone or text those at home. 30% would buy a bundle to talk and text with fellow travellers, while 11% would buy a data package to access the Internet.
The EU roaming legislation is a step in the right direction, but for a growing percentage of consumers, this isnt going far enough, as they want to access data services such as mobile Internet and social networking applications just like they do at home, and this remains costly, says Mike Beech, VP, Product Management at Acision. Our research reveals that consumers would be put at ease and would actually use their mobile phone more when abroad if they were able to view their real-time spending.