News

11 April, 2017

Press Release: IPSOS survey for ETNO unveils change in digital consumers’ habits across the EU

Brussels, 11 April 2017 – ETNO, the Association representing Europe’s largest telecom operators, and IPSOS, the global market research leader, have presented today a new consumer survey on the digital habits and expectations of Europeans in ten major EU markets.
IPSOS found that consumption patterns have significantly changed, with Europeans increasingly taking-up internet services and young generations re-shaping preferences. Telecom services will continue playing a crucial role in citizens’ life and surveyed consumers feel that choice, offers and prices are largely satisfactory.
The survey comes as the European Parliament and Member States discuss an historic reform of Europe’s telecom laws, with the Electronic Communications Code and the e-Privacy Regulation currently being reviewed.

A new landscape: digital service is king, international calls go online

Europeans consumers believe that telecommunication services are crucial to their daily lives (65%), with all generations being increasingly enthusiastic about the value added of services such as social media, digital TV and e-commerce. Making online purchases and browsing with smartphones will increasingly gain importance in the daily life of more than half of those surveyed. Already today, more than one in three Europeans (36%) streams music or videos, with over 20% of them expecting to increase their uptake of these services in the future.
When it comes to calling abroad from their country, 45% of the respondents say they expect to use online services more and more, as opposed to other means. 34% of them already use online today for calling abroad.

Drivers of consumer choice: quality is more important than price for mobile and broadband internet

When it comes to mobile and broadband internet markets, the main drivers of consumer choice are respectively mobile network coverage (82%) and internet connection quality (86%). Price is second to both. Among those Europeans who change their broadband internet provider (61%), most of them were driven by a richer offer (46%) rather than better price for the same offer (31%). Better quality also appears a top reason for favouring the use of telecom services as opposed to online communication services.

Telecom services: consumers feel there is a good level of choice, fair prices and changing provider is easy

The survey shows that EU citizens believe that enough broadband providers are available, with 8 out of 10 Europeans convinced that choice is at least similar or greater than in other service sectors. Prices do not appear to be a major issue, with 66% of those surveyed saying that current prices are either “fair” (58%) or “rather cheap” (8%). Results are rather homogenous across generations (15 to 60+ y.o.) and across consumption patterns (bundle users vs. non-bundle users).
When it comes to choice, Europeans are free to vote with their feet, with 61% of the people saying that they have already changed broadband internet provider in the past.

Consumer awareness: low understanding of technicalities

Most consumers surveyed have little awareness of technical aspects behind their internet connection. The survey shows that few know what the following features are: latency (11%), packet loss (12%) and jitter (8%).

Download the full survey here: https://goo.gl/Ib38ex
For media inquiries: Alessandro Gropelli, Director of Communications, +32 476 94 18 39