Quarter of UK’s mobile phone users make less than five calls a month
10 October 2019
A quarter of mobile phone users make less than five standard calls a month, while six per cent make none at all, latest Ofcom figures have revealed.
Of those who did make calls, 60 per cent ended their conversation in less than 90 seconds, according to the regulator’s Mobile Matters report.
The study of how around 150,000 people used their Android phone between January 1 and March 31 shows that the number of minutes people spend on mobile calls has continued its steady rise from 132.1 billion in 2012 to 148.6 billion in 2017, a 12 per cent increase.
During the same period, the average amount of mobile data people use each month soared from 0.2 GB (gigabits) to 1.9 GB, an 850 per cent increase.
However previous studies by Ofcom have also found that younger people find making calls daunting and prefer to use messaging services such as WhatsApp.
The study found people in Liverpool spend more time talking on their mobile than those in other major cities at almost seven minutes per average call – more than 40% longer than Londoners.
People in Bradford hold the shortest mobile phone conversations on average.
The study, which helps Ofcom to understand mobile users’ needs, shows that they spend most of their time online connected to Wi-Fi (69 per cent), rather than using 3G or 4G.
This helped to explain why 60 per cent of mobile users use less than 1GB of mobile data a month, and only 10 per cent use 5GB or more.
When people are using their mobile data, they are mainly connected to 4G (82 per cent of time), and when they are in an area where a 4G network is available they are able to get online when they attempt to 98.8 per cent of the time.
Mobile data use peaks between 5pm and 6pm, when rush-hour commuters tend to catch up with news and social media, the study found.
Last year Ofcom revealed that Britons check their phones every 12 minutes.
The report, A decade of Digital Dependency, found that 40 per cent of adults look at their phone within five minutes of waking up, rising to 65 per cent of those aged under 35.
And 37 per cent of adults check their phones just before switching off the lights for bed, increasing to 60 per cent of under 35s.
The younger generation is the most addicted. Those aged 15 to 24 on average spend four hours a day on the phone compared with 2 hours 49 minutes for all adults. The young also check their phones every 8.6 minutes, more frequently than any other age group.
Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/10/09/quarter-mobile-phone-users-make-less-five-calls-month-ofcom/
