Mobile users willing to pay 63% premium for 3G access

Mobile phone users would be prepared to pay as much as 63 per cent on top of existing bills to access next generation services offering a high-speed connection to the Internet, research showed yesterday. A survey of 1,500 business and non-business mobile users also showed that up to 66 percent would be prepared to accept advertising on their new generation mobiles if it meant using them would be cheaper.

The survey was conducted by Siemens Ireland, the electronics group whose parent produces mobile phones.

Almost 90 per cent of those surveyed said they would switch to a new operator to access new so-called UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) or third generation (3G) services.

Mobile operators have spent €100 billion (£78.8 billion) on developing 3G mobile services across Europe - a cost they are eager to try to recoup from end users.

Licensing of the frequencies for UMTS has already begun around the world and four UMTS licences are due to be issued in Ireland in May this year.

"The results of the survey clearly demonstrate that first to launch is vital for operators as customers do not show loyalty to their existing operator," the survey said.

Those polled were also asked to identify which 3G services they would be particularly interested in.

Among ordinary users, more than 80 per cent said they would like access to traffic services, using the phone's ability to recognise the user's location anywhere in the world and offering information on the shortest and best travel routes.

Second on the list for non-business mobile users were booking and reservations services (77 per cent), while 76 per cent said they would like to use their phones for remote monitoring of domestic devices.

Business users also wanted geographical information services (78 per cent) and listed personal organiser facilities and customised news services second and third.

To access such services, ordinary users said they were prepared to pay 63 per cent on top of their existing mobile phone bills, while business users said they would pay 46 per cent on top of theirs - higher than the comparative figure for France, Germany and Italy, the survey said.

A report on the survey said that, by 2005, almost half a million Irish mobile users would be subscribing to UMTS services.