Australia’s mobile-only population

Summary of key indicators

March 2012

The ACMA’s interest in Australia’s communications choices

As an evidence-based regulator, the ACMA is committed to monitoring and understanding how Australians are adopting and using communications technology.

The ACMA is interested in areas of emerging communications trends and regulatory pressure, such as convergence and internet-based voice technologies.

The ACMA has commissioned a survey of consumers who do not have a fixed-line voice service in their home to allow it to better understand the communications behaviours of a growing section of the public.

Research objectives

> To develop a demographic profile of Australians aged 18 years and over (adults) who do not have a fixed-line telephone in their place of residence.

> To gain insight into the reasons behind this communications choice.

> To attain a greater understanding of how ‘mobile-only’ Australians use communications.

‘Mobile-only’ consumers are Australians who:

… do not have a fixed-line phone* at their place of residence and who use a mobile phone.

… may subscribe to a fixed-line service (e.g. for an internet service), but cannot make or receive voice calls using that service.

*In this instance, fixed-line phones include voice over internet protocol (VoIP) handset phones that use an adapter and operate as a fixed-line phone.

Communications service usage is changing in Australia

Take-up of selected communications services

Source: ACMA Communications report 2010-11

Surveying mobile-only consumers

Two-part research strategy:

1. Online* omnibus survey of 1,213 adults to establish proportion of Australians who are mobile only, and to determine quotas for (age, gender, location)—conducted February 2011.

2. Targeted online survey of 800 mobile-only consumers aged 18 to 65—conducted for the ACMA by Newspoll April 2011.

*By using an internet-based survey, we were able to remove the technology bias inherent in standard CATI consumer survey techniques, and gain ready access to the mobile-only population.

Who are mobile-only Australians?

> Sixteen per cent of Australians are now ‘mobile phone only.’

> Most are men.

55% 45%

Most mobile-only Australians are young adults

65% of all mobile-only consumers are aged 34 years or younger.

Mobile-only Australians by location of residence

While most mobile-only Australians currently live in a capital city …

… city and country dwellers are equally likely to go mobile only.

Why do Australians choose to disconnect their fixed-line?

56 per cent had previously subscribed to a fixed line service.

*Multiple responses allowed

Some mobile-only consumers are heading back to the fixed-line …

25 per cent of ‘mobile-only’ Australians are considering connecting/reconnecting a fixed-line service. We asked why:

Most commonly to access a non-voice communications service

*Multiple responses allowed

What kind of handsets do mobile-only Australians use?

Mobile-only consumers are more likely to own an internet-enabled (3G) phone, and specifically a smartphone, than the wider Australian population.

Mobile handset internet use

Internet-enabled phone users Smartphone users

Regardless of whether they have a smartphone or a more simple 3G handset, mobile-only consumers are more likely to access the internet using their mobile phone than those with a fixed-line.

Mobile internet communications by mobile-only Australians

The majority of mobile-only Australians with a 3G phone use their phone to communicate via the internet as well as voice.

Accessed social networking sites

Sent or received emails

Made VoIP calls

(in six months to May 2011)

Use of internet and advanced features by mobile-only Australians over mobile handset

Smartphone users 72 per cent

Smartphone users 80 per cent

Smartphone users 38 per cent

Mobile handset media use by mobile-only Australians

Increasing as data prices drop and handsets with larger memories become less expensive.

Smartphone users42 per cent

Smartphone users47 per cent

Smartphone users17 per cent

Mobile-only Australians and the cloud*

*Using any internet access device.

Mobile-only Australians and other communications services

Mobile-only Australians are four times more likely to use public payphones than other mobile users.

Why do mobile-only Australians use payphones?

% mobile-only payphone users

Most commonly for financial reasons.

Access the communications report series at engage.acma.gov.au.

Do you have any questions about that data provided in this presentation?

Please email us at communications.analysis@acma.gov.au.