Seventy four percent of smartphone users in the United States are interested in a mobile operator-provided service that uses Wi-Fi to provide lower cost calls, according to a recent MarketTools Zoomerang survey of 420 smartphone owners.
The survey, commissioned by Kineto Wireless, also showed 72 percent of smartphone users are interested in an application that uses Wi-Fi to improve cellular coverage.
According to the survey, around 89 percent of respondents have smartphones with Wi-Fi. 77 percent have Wi-Fi at home and 54 percent have Wi-Fi at their work place. 62 percent of people who have smartphones with Wi-Fi use Wi-Fi at least four days a week.
Thirty percent of respondents said they utilize Wi-Fi as it is faster than cellular network. According to 19 percent of respondents, they like Wi-Fi for easily accessing the internet.
Wi-Fi has become pervasive in the smartphone market, and subscribers are interested in options that help them take better advantage of Wi-Fi for coverage and cheaper calling,” said Steve Shaw, vice president of marketing for Kineto Wireless.
This data helps reiterate the market opportunities for mobile operators. With Kineto’s Smart Wi-Fi Application, they can improve service quality and develop subscriber-friendly services that drive mobile data offload,” Shaw added.
Of T-Mobile subscribers, 55 percent use Wi-Fi on their smartphones four or more days each week or every day, 24 percent because it is easy to access the internet. Of AT&T subscribers, 68 percent of AT&T subscribers use Wi-Fi on their smartphones four or more days each week or every day, 32 percent because it is faster than the cellular network.
T-Mobile is the most aggressive of the US operators with its use of Wi-Fi to reduce churn by addressing in-building coverage and increasing data offload.
In October 2010, the company re launched its Wi-Fi Calling service and has had tremendous success, with people saying Wi-Fi Calling is superb,” …brilliantly simple…” and I live and die by Wi-Fi Calling.” The company continues to add Smart Wi-Fi-enabled, latest and greatest Android smartphones from a variety of phone manufacturers.
By Telecomlead.com Team
editor@telecomlead.com
