- Average adult wastes over £250 worth of mobile allowance each year
The fourth annual Mobile Money Report from moneysupermarket.com reveals that the average Brit wastes almost half (45 per cent) of their mobile tariff's minutes and text allowance each month, raking in £13bn every year for the mobile industry.**
The study by the UK's leading price comparison website shows that contract customers are the most profligate with their allowance, wasting 137 minutes every month, equating to 27 hours a year for the average pay monthly mobile user.
As the mobile market has developed in the last few years the situation seems to be getting worse with Brits losing out more than ever. Compared to the 2007 Mobile Money Report, adults are now wasting up to 40 per cent more minutes and twice as many texts. (See table below).
|
CONTRACT CUSTOMERS |
|
Year of usage |
Wasted mins
(monthly) |
Wasted mins
(yearly) |
Wasted texts
(monthly) |
Wasted texts
(yearly) |
|
2007 |
98 |
1176 |
76 |
912 |
|
2009 |
137 |
1644 |
153 |
1836 |
|
% increase |
39.7 |
101.3 |
Mike Wilson, manager of mobiles and broadband at moneysupermarket.com said: "With a rise in the popularity of the iPhone and other smartphones with increased capabilities and internet access, the allowance of texts and minutes on a tariff has become less important. With these other considerations taking priority, people are wasting more texts and minutes than ever before.
"It's great that consumers are under their monthly allowance to avoid any extra costs, but it's also important to get the most out of your contract for what you pay each month. One of the best ways to do this is to asses what your monthly usage is and find a contract that suits you best. You may find a much lower, cheaper tariff meets your needs, or T-Mobile Flext offers a flexible option."
moneysupermarket.com has recently relaunched its mobile channel making it one of the most comprehensive mobile phone comparison sites in the UK. The new updated mobile channel offers comparisons of over 478,000 deals and more than 440 handsets across 23 mobile providers. Other new features include a 'free gift' search, allowing users to find their most suitable tariff including a particular free gift, detailed content and images of the handsets and tariff searches across pay-monthly, pay-as-you-go and SIM-only options.
- Ends -
Notes to editors:
* Opinium Research carried out an online poll of 2,005 British adults between 20th and 23rd November.
** Population of 48.315 is split into contract customers (45 per cent) and PAYG (49 per cent)
Contract customers waste 1644 minutes and 1836 texts each year. PAYG customers waste 192 minutes and 348 texts each year.
Total wastage for the year across all users is:
Minutes: 40,288,912,000 @ 0.203 = £8,178,649,136
Texts: 48,156,526,800 @ 0.098p = £4,719,339,626.40
Total monetary waste: £12,897,988,762.4
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