Relevance and cost are deterrents to mobile phone use in emerging countries, a study by Pew Research finds. Device cost is an issue, but some potential users also believe mobile phones have limited value. Linguistic difficulties and technological literacy also affect non-users, though at somewhat lower rates.
The cost objection will be the easier problem to overcome, as lower-cost devices are made available, a trend that is well underway. The “not relevant” issue is the more difficult issue.
Though people cite many reasons for not using mobile phones, financial constraints are key, Pew Research says. “Across the eight countries with a sufficient sample size to analyze, a median of 51 percent say the cost of a mobile device is a reason they do not own a mobile phone.”
“Among those who gave multiple reasons that they did not use a phone, device cost also is the top reason people cite for not owning a mobile device (a median of 17 percent of non-users across eight countries),” Pew says.
A median of 34 percent also say data costs are a factor in why they do not use a mobile phone, though a median of only five percent say this is their top reason, the study finds.
Perhaps intriguingly, for most non-users, the cost of data is less of a concern than device cost. That suggests service revenue upside can be boosted if device costs are eliminated as a hurdle.
In Venezuela, where 89 percent see device costs as prohibitive, half say the cost of data is a reason they don’t use a device.
While the relative gap between device and data costs may be smaller in other countries, more people in each country say device costs are a hurdle to ownership than say the same of data costs, Pew notes.
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