TNS Survey Finds Significant Rise in Broadband Internet Technology; Mobile Broadband Gains Traction and Influence

NEW YORK, Nov. 8, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- TNS today released results of its latest ReQuest® survey, a comprehensive and insightful look into consumers' telecommunications behaviors.  The survey, conducted among 120,000 households, reveals a steady increase in broadband connections to the Internet in homes.  However, this increase is now mostly fueled by growth in mobile broadband technologies, currently adopted by one in four households.

According to the study, mobile broadband penetration now reaches one-quarter (25%) of all U.S. households, primarily with cell phones, Smartphones and other hand-held wireless devices.  This penetration is expected to accelerate rapidly as Smartphone adoption grows, choices among data plans expand and consumers continue to adapt their online behaviors to exploit this technology.

The Fixed/Mobile Broadband Battle

Fixed broadband, including digital subscriber line (DSL) and cable, has been a phenomenal growth story over the past five years. "Spurred by increased consumer demand, and growth in bandwidth-intense activities like video streaming and peer-to-peer sharing, broadband penetration continues to make gains across every type of consumer and device," said Tom Buehrer, SVP of TNS Technology. "However, with the boom in high-bandwidth video traffic; squeezed margins from carrying 'low revenue' video traffic; and as more and more young, tech-savvy consumers enter the market it is little surprise that growth in mobile broadband has accelerated with fixed solutions. The key for providers is to offer a compelling broadband customer experience that helps maximize revenue from existing customers, while increasing the chance of attracting new ones."

According to TNS ReQuest®, there is great overlap in the penetrations of fixed and mobile broadband technologies; in fact, in the 67% of households that already have fixed broadband, 29% also have mobile broadband, compared to 25% across the nation as a whole.  "This shows that mobile broadband is more an extension of broadband access rather than a replacement," according to Buehrer.  This higher propensity to subscribe to both services is driven by various factors including user characteristics, brand recognition and loyalty as well as broader service bundling enticements from providers who also provide mobile services.  

Households with both services are highly connected: they tend to also purchase wireline and wireless voice as well as video, and to bundle three or four services with a single communications provider.  These households are high income, marrieds with children, and, as expected, they have the highest monthly communications spend.  Households who are mobile BB substitutors tend to be younger, full or part-time students and are more budget conscious. These customers are highly likely to choose wireless as their main technology for both voice and Internet and are primarily bundling wireless and wired video from a single provider or separately purchasing wireless and satellite video.

Having a "constant connection" gains momentum

As adoption of mobile broadband Internet grows, online behaviors are changing.  Already, familiar online activities such as e-mail, navigation, photo sharing, and social networking are nearly as (if not more) prevalent among mobile broadband users as fixed broadband users.  Some online activities, most notably banking, bill paying, shopping, and gaming remain more common among fixed broadband users, likely due to legacy usage habits and/or user concerns about wireless device security, features and convenience.  However, demand for some of the unique benefits of mobile broadband (like location based services) is expected to further reshape the nature, type, and frequency of people's Internet usage.

About TNS

TNS, is the world's largest custom research agency delivering actionable insights and research-based business advice to its clients so they can make more effective business decisions.  TNS offers comprehensive industry knowledge within the Consumer, Technology, Finance, Automotive and Political & Social sectors, supported by a unique product offering that stretches across the entire range of marketing and business issues, specializing in product development & innovation, brand & communication, stakeholder management, retail & shopper, and qualitative research. Delivering best-in-class service across more than 75 countries, TNS is part of Kantar, the world's largest research, insight and consultancy network. Please visit www.tns-us.com for more information.

The Kantar Group

The Kantar Group is one of the world's largest research, insight and consultancy networks. By uniting the diverse talents of more than 20 specialist companies -- including the recently-acquired TNS -- the group aims to become the pre-eminent provider of compelling and actionable insights for the global business community. Its 26,500 employees work across 80 countries and across the whole spectrum of research and consultancy disciplines, enabling the group to offer clients business insights at each and every point of the consumer cycle. The group's services are employed by over half of the Fortune Top 500 companies.  The Kantar Group is a wholly-owned subsidiary of WPP Group plc. For further information, please visit www.kantargrouptns.com

SOURCE TNS