from YAPRap September 2004
by SIMplus Mobile
YAPA and SIMplus Mobile release Newspoll data on young people and mobile phone use
YAPA and SIMplus Mobile commissioned a survey by Newspoll Market Research to investigate youth mobile spending in a thorough, statistically rigorous way.
The findings, released this month, show that 90 percent of 13-19 year olds living in Sydney and Melbourne own mobile phones, and while 60 percent use a pre-paid mobile phone service, they do not manage their phone budgets wisely.
In the survey, 70 percent of teenagers admitted they did not follow a budget or spending plan to manage their mobile phone expenditure. Almost half (4 in 10) recharge their credit immediately when their credit has expired. Of these, half ask their parents for extra money to recharge it immediately.
"YAPA was keen to get some detailed insight into youth mobile spending. We encourage young Australians to realistically assess whether they can afford the mobile phone service they are going to purchase and to actively monitor and manage how much they spend," said Kristy Delaney, Executive Officer of YAPA.
Pre-paid mobile phones are the popular choice for Australian teenagers. In fact, 90 percent of teenagers with pre-paid accounts claimed to be very satisfied with the service. However, only 1 in 10 mentioned they used the pre-paid model to control or monitor their spending.
"While most teenagers with mobile phones opt for pre-paid accounts, they do not pro-actively manage how much they spend. On average, teenagers with pre-paid accounts spend $32 per month. The pre-paid model is inherently a great way of credit control, but even these costs can be reduced by actively managing their expenditure," said Keir Preedy, Managing Director, SIMplus Mobile.
Key Survey Findings:
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9 in 10 (89%) teenagers (13-19 years old in Sydney and Melbourne) own mobile phones.
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Pre-paid accounts are the most popular in this age group: 6 in 10 (63%) teenagers use pre-paid phone accounts; Only 3 in 10 (28%) use a mobile phone on a monthly plan.
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Following a monthly budget is not common: 7 in 10 (68%) teenagers with pre-paid accounts do not follow a budget or spending plan to control how much they spend using their phones.
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4 in 10 (43%) teenagers with pre-paid mobile phones recharge their credit immediately when their credit has expired. Only 1 in 10 (14%) wait until they had next planned to recharge before topping up their pre-paid credit.
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2 in 10 (20%) teenagers ask their parents for the money to recharge their pre-paid account when their credit has expired.
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Teenagers claim to spend an average of $32 per month on their pre-paid mobile phones; 3 in 10 (29%) spend less than $15 and just over 1 in 10 (13.4%) spend more than $50 per month.
Methodology
The Newspoll survey was conducted in Sydney and Melbourne with 600 respondents aged 13-19 years, selected by means of a stratified random sample incorporating quotas set for age within sex. It was conducted by telephone between 23-25 August 2004. To reflect the population distribution, results were post-weighted to Australian Bureau of Statistics data on age, sex and area.
