The surveys, carried out in two of the region's key benchmark markets, the UAE and Jordan, found that public awareness, understanding and adoption of 'advanced' mobile services such as mobile Internet access and content based services is low, while subscribers are feeling confused by the complexity of such services.
"There's undoubtedly a disconnect here between mobile subscribers and service providers and it would appear to be related to the way that services such as these are being communicated to subscribers. There's a school of thought that says mobile operators in the region need to think like IT companies in their marketing of these services, rather than talk like IT companies," said Alexander McNabb, group account director at Spot On Public Relations. "The opportunities for operators are huge, not just in revenue terms, but in differentiating themselves in the region's increasingly competitive markets."
The surveys, interviews carried out among 50 randomly selected members of the public in the UAE and 100 in Jordan, highlight the fact that although many more subscribers are using MMS (multi-media messaging service) services, few are aware of the potential for mobile Internet access and content services. In both markets, over 70% of subscribers did not download content to their mobiles, preferring to use MMS to send and receive pictures on a 'peer to peer' basis. Some 54% of the subscribers surveyed in Jordan and 44% in the UAE used their camera phones to share pictures.
Some 31% of the subscribers surveyed in Jordan viewed the mobile content available to them negatively, a figure that leapt to over 70% in the UAE.
"A key concern is the future. If people aren't buying Internet and content access today, then you have to ask how adoption of broadband access services such as 3G can be built. The technology roadmap is clear, but subscribers appear not to be aware of just how they can use the mobile services being offered to them today, let alone in future," said McNabb.
Another area highlighted by the survey was the high awareness of 3G technologies in Jordan, a market without a working 3G network (58% of those surveyed were aware of 3G) against the UAE, where the national 3G network was launched over a year ago (62% were not aware of 3G). In both markets, over 60% of subscribers viewed adoption of 3G negatively and do not plan to buy a 3G telephone, with some 58% of respondents seeing 3G purely in terms of a videophone technology.
"Most people in both markets had heard about 3G purely through word of mouth or personal research, which would tend to lead to the conclusion that there's a marketing issue behind the reactions we saw in the survey," said McNabb.
Subscribers surveyed in both markets felt confused by the packages, technologies and facilities being offered to them by their operators. 74% of respondents in the UAE and 50% in Jordan found the services provided by their operator confusing, while 82% of respondents in the UAE and 47% of respondents in Jordan didn't think that operators explain their services and benefits well to customers.
"We don't see these as problems so much as opportunities. These are fundamentally communications issues that can be solved easily through the application of audience based communication, targeted awareness raising programmes and subscriber information campaigns. The long term benefits for operators, in terms of differentiating services and raising not only short term revenues but long term adoption are massive," said McNabb.
The results of the survey are being presented at the Arab Advisors Media and Telecoms Convergence Conference 2005, organized by the Arab Advisors Group, which will be held in Jordan between 11th -12th June 2005, Under the Patronage of H.E Nadia Saeed, Minister of Information and Communications Technology. The conference which was held for the first time last year has attracted regional key players in the media and telecom industries.
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Arab mobile Internet potential remains untapped: survey
- United Arab Emirates: Thursday, June 09 - 2005 at 12:53
'Straw Polls' of GSM subscribers carried out by Spot On Public Relations, the Middle East's first and leading technology public relations and marketing communications agency, have highlighted a major untapped opportunity in the marketing of advanced mobile services by Middle East GSM operators.
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Notes and media contacts
The Spot On 'straw poll' surveys were carried out independently among the general public in the UAE and Jordan based on random selections of 50 GSM subscribers in the UAE and 100 GSM subscribers in Jordan. Both sets of surveys were carried out during June 2005 and are intended to be indicative of subscriber attitudes rather than a representative quantification sample. Although the results of these surveys illuminated some broad trends reported on in this news release, there is a margin for error in these statistics and so the figures used in this release should not be taken out of context or compared with other available research.About Advanced Mobile Services
MMS
Multimedia Messaging Services (MMS) allow subscribers to send and receive 'rich' content, including picture messages, sound files and short video clips and are intended to build on the popularity of the SMS (Short Message Service) texting supported by standard GSM networks. This can either be achieved on a handset to handset basis ('peer to peer') or content can be 'pulled' from Internet sites or 'pushed' from content providers. MMS users can also typically send and receive content, within certain limitations, to and from the Internet - including interaction with email. MMS is currently enabled through the GPRS carrier technology in most regional networks, although provisioning of MMS by an operator does not necessarily involve full Internet access as part of the MMS subscription package.
GPRS
The General Packet Radio System, or GPRS, is a technology that allows mobile users to exchange information using the Internet Protocol, or IP, over GSM mobile networks. This means support of full Internet access from a mobile telephone at near-dialup or dialup speeds, depending on operator capabilities. GPRS data rates range from typical 32 kbit/s to as much as 70 kbit/s - as a guide, typical fixed line Internet 'dialup' speed is 52 kbit/s, while fixed ISDN lines support 64 kbit/s data rates.
GPRS supports full Internet access (Web browsing, email etc) from a GSM mobile 'phone or PDA (personal digital assistant). GPRS can also be used with a notebook computer using a dedicated GPRS ad-in card or by using a mobile telephone as a modem, linked to the laptop via infra-red, cable or Bluetooth connections. In short, GPRS lets people on the move access the Internet, with a wide range of access devices.
Perhaps interestingly, GPRS is also used as the bearer for data services provisioned to 3G subscribers in the UAE, giving a typical access speed of up to 128 kbit/s to subscribers.
EDGE
Faster Internet access speeds on mobile telephones are supported by EDGE technologies, which support 110 kbit/s or 220 kbit/s theoretical access speeds over standard GSM+ capable mobile networks. EDGE allows faster Internet access and richer content than GPRS without necessitating the large-scale network upgrades required by migration to the 3G standard. EDGE does, however, require an appropriately enabled GSM handset.
3G
The 'Third Generation' network technology supports broadband (typically up to 384 kbit/s) access, allowing fast Internet connectivity and applications such as real-time 'videophone' access on capable handsets. The technology requires major network upgrades and a new class of subscriber handset in order to operate.
HSPA
The 'beyond 3G' HSPA access technology supports data access through mobile networks of 2 Mbit/s and is expected to evolve to support access speeds of up to 10 Mbit/s.
* These technology definitions have been produced by Spot On for guidance only and are not a comprehensive guide to the technology capabilities or services available from operators under these categories.
Spot On Public Relations
Spot On Public Relations is the Middle East region's largest and leading communications consultancy focused on technology-driven organisations with offices in Amman and Dubai. With an eleven-year track record of managing communications for international companies, government departments and NGOs in the Middle East, Spot On offers the highest level of strategic counsel and relevant local experience. The firm offers a broad range of services including event management, media relations, marketing communications, online communications, public affairs and strategic communications planning.
Spot On is the Middle East partner of Brodeur|Pleon Worldwide, one of the world's largest communications firms with offices in 30 countries. Spot On is also a founder member of the Middle East Public Relations Association (MEPRA).
Anne-Birte Stensgaard, Senior News EditorThursday, June 09 - 2005 at 12:53 UAE local time (GMT+4)
Replication or redistribution in whole or in part is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of AME Info FZ LLC / Emap Limited.
This article was updated on Tue May 01 2007.
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