Calling - that's so 90s

The UK is falling out of love with calling on your mobile phone, with most preferring to tap out a text instead.

The data, from a survey by comparison site uSwitch of over 12,000 people, showed that over 60 billion texts are being sent per month, with around 67 sent per person on average.

58 per cent of mobile phone users (74 million in use in the UK) admit to only making one call a day, with 44 per cent of landline users doing less than that – showing that the art of actual conversation is being replaced by texting, Tweeting and online chatting.

In fact, around one in ten people surveyed admitting to almost never making a phone call at all.

Hardcore and online

In Britain, over half (55 per cent) spend time chatting on forums, using IM programs or sites like Facebook. On average households spend two hours a week in such pursuits, but 12 per cent spend three to five hours socialising online while a core 11 per cent spend over 6 hours a week.

“We used to have time to talk, but today it’s all about communicating quickly and easily with more than one person at a time,” says Jason Glynn, communication expert at uSwitch.

“By using emails, text messages and social networking sites people feel like they are staying in touch with family and friends while still saving valuable time. In reality, they are communicating on their own terms, choosing the time and place that suits them and staying in control by limiting the chances of a lengthy inconvenient conversation.

Twittering classes

“As the chattering classes give way to the Twittering classes this has huge implications for telephone, mobile phone and broadband providers. Consumers will want maximum flexibility to switch between texting, emailing and calling and the industry will have to respond with creative mix and match packages to allow this.”

Figures from mobile operator 3 also back up these findings, with the operator highlighting that as news of Michael Jackson’s death hit, with a 400 per cent increase in news traffic to its mobile portal and a 100 per cent rise in the amount of Tweets going out at the same time, showing users are increasingly using the mobile in a very similar way to their PC.

Source: TechRadar UK

Juniper Research believes that, in 2008, approximately 45% of mobile devices sold worldwide were socalled ‘entry-level’ handsets (which… Nokia defines as being handsets with a retail value less than $60). A small but growing proportion of this total is accounted for by ultra-low cost handsets, which retail for $15 or less.

Of the 700 million low-cost handsets expected to be sold in 2014, Juniper Research believes that the greatest proportion – around 24% – will be sold in Africa and the Middle East…

Speaking to Mobile network Operators all over Africa, it appears that, as they move their focus to the poorer urban and rural communities, these ultra low-cost handsets are becoming even more important.

In support of this:

Africa’s largest mobile phone company, MTN Group Ltd, is planning to bring handsets with MTN’s brand costing as little as $12 in the first half of next year. MTN’s Vice President of southern and east African region, Tim Lowry, said the handsets would be manufactured in China and may be priced between $12 and $15.

Making these phones available will help many unserved African communities to take their first steps across the digital divide. The next step is to encourage the use of SMS and SMS based applications to enable them to experience the benefits of digital communications.

Source: Juniper Research, Wireless Federation