Emerging markets more willing to pay 4G premium survey suggests

The willingness to pay a premium for 4G services is generally lower in mature markets than in emerging markets, a recent survey suggests. Accenture surveyed 31,000 consumers in 26 countries to understand what CSPs must do to address their needs.

It found that mobile subscribers worldwide have an appetite for speed, with the vast majority citing speed of mobile internet connections as the top differentiator for communication services providers. And nearly two-thirds said they would pay a premium for mobile internet services that are 10 times faster than their current connection.

However, the report found disparities in consumers’ willingness to pay for faster services.

An average of only 57 per cent of all respondents in the mature markets surveyed said they were willing to pay a premium, excluding Italy and Finland, where the averages were 70 per cent and 71 per cent respectively.

In contrast, an average of 76 per cent of consumers in emerging markets said they would pay more for 4G. 83 per cent of customers in Brazil and Russia said they would be willing to pay a premium.

The survey also showed that consumer demand outstanding quality of service; almost all respondents (96 per cent) said the quality of network is important, closely followed by its area of coverage (95 percent) and connection speed (95 percent). 94 per cent of respondents said the cost of data is slightly less important than quality, coverage, or connection speed.

The report also revealed a slight reluctance to trust mobile operators as payment providers, When consumers were asked to consider their top choices for mobile payments providers, banks scored the highest (89 per cent), followed by payment card providers (81 per cent) with mobile providers (77 per cent) ranking third.

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