With growing relevance of Mobile Broadband since the launch of 3G in India, Ericsson Consumer Lab identified key consumer behaviour trends in the usage of mobile broadband and how it is changing the lives of people.

Some of the highlights from the report include: Consumers’ dependency on Smartphones has increased like never before, Teens are the major consumers of 3G, and the uptake of 3G is impacting the usage of mobile broadband in a bigger way.

Once the consumers get the taste of Smartphone, the gadget becomes inseparable. And with the advent of technologies like 3G, they prefer accessing internet on their Smartphones powered by Mobile Broadband despite having multiple devices to access internet at home, simply because of the ease of use, reveals Ericsson Consumer Lab’s new study ‘The Promise of Mobile Broadband’.

The report also indicates among other things that for most of the users, mobile broadband is emerging as a gateway to their first internet experience on Smartphones.

The study was conducted between November 2011 and January 2012, to gauge the early impact of the roll-out of 3G in India. 5000 Smartphone users across India between the age group of 15-45 were interviewed. The study aims to understand how 3G especially on Smartphones has impacted usage pattern, end users’ experience on 3G network, and also what are the various drivers and barriers for further mobile broadband adoption.

It also investigates the roles different devices play in accessing the internet and, in particular, focuses on how Smartphones are affecting user behaviour and network choices in India.

“Mobile Broadband and 3G provide them the flexibility to access internet anywhere and everywhere. We just concluded a study on Smartphone users in India and we see that Mobile Broadband is reshaping consumer behaviour with 3G users browsing more frequently and using services for a longer period of time. 3G users seem to have also accelerated usage of social media and mobile video (YouTube)”, Ajay Gupta, Head of Marketing & Strategy, Ericsson India, says, Despite the entire shift in behaviour, consumers still had to deal with teething issues around network coverage, quality and lack of a mechanism to monitor their usage. Around one third of 3G users faced network related issue at least once daily. In addition to network quality issues, handset battery draining faster and data connection reliability were major concerns highlighted by consumers. 

Most of the users today are early adopters and all they care about is technology sophistication; however the more pragmatic wave of adopters sitting on the sidelines, who have the money to spend on 3G services, will demand that the technology proves its promise before they jump onto it.