Two-thirds of British mobile phone owners say they have never changed their operator, according to statistics from YouGov.
Telegraph.co.uk cites readings from the firm’s latest report which suggest that loyalty in the mobile phone market is stronger than ever.
Older customers are the most likely to stick with the same phone operator they signed up with, as only one in five people above the age of 55 have decided to change their network over the last three years.
This rises to half for people under age of 25, who could be using their knowledge of data and roaming charges to switch onto a more attractive deal. Mobile marketers may be hoping benefits gained from a switch – like improved signal and cheaper text rates – makes their audience more responsive to requests.
Mobile-ent.biz says men are more likely to change their provider than women, with a rate of 13 per cent compared to nine per cent for women, while this rose to 20 per cent among men aged 25-39. Still, for people who only perform basic actions on their phone, the cost to send SMS and make calls are the only things they’ll be considering.
Tom Rees, a researcher at YouGov, says phone users are constantly in a state of flux due to new handsets entering the market every month.
“However, this report shows that whatever happens within the sector, consumers themselves are pretty steady and loyal to their networks,” he added.
YouGov’s research comes amid a concerted effort from the company to improve the deal consumers get when signing up with a mobile provider.
