Ericsson ConsumerLab: Turkey tops advanced countries in mobile internet services

• Turkey outdistances global giants in mobile access to several services such as social networks and instant messaging, shows Ericsson ConsumerLab report
• Over the last two years, various lines of service including customer services gained more importance in users’ satisfaction with operators
• 42 percent of the accepters wish to upgrade to 4.5G, while 44 percent of rejecters think that it will be no different than 3G

 Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC) announced the results of its latest ConsumerLab study on smartphone mobile internet users in Turkey highlighting Turkey as a leading country  in mobile internet services compared to advanced markets.

Reaching out to 1,500 smartphone users in 26 cities across Turkey, the survey focused on the change in smartphone use in the past two years, users' views on 4.5G, and consumer satisfaction.

Ziya Erdem, Head of Ericsson Turkey, shared his views on the report: "Results of our survey, conducted for the third time, demonstrate that Turkish users have truly adopted mobile internet in their daily life. Intensive investments and efforts by the operators in Turkey significantly enhanced consumer satisfaction, particularly in top-tier cities. The survey also underlines that 4.5G is well received by consumers and has a good potential."

Turkey leads in usage frequency of several services

Consumers have used mobile services more and more frequently over the past two years. The daily usage rates for mobile instant messaging users increased from 67 percent in 2014 to 80 percent in 2016. Likewise, the rate for social networking via mobile escalated from 73 to 79 percent, while that of browsing increased from 59 to 72 percent. Turkey outstrips the U.S., the UK, Germany, Brazil and South Korea by daily usage rates of social networking, instant messaging as well as music and video streaming. Turkey was taking the lead in the 2014 survey, as well, in the categories of social media and instant messaging.

42% of consumers are willing to upgrade to 4.5G

Key drivers to upgrade to 4.5G include improved coverage and uninterrupted connection expectations (37 percent) and attraction of new technology (35 percent), expectation of better rural coverage, and current low speed for social media upload (33 percent).

Rejecters of 4.5G, on the other hand, have a range of reasons. To name a few, 44 percent of users are of the opinion that it will be no different than 3G, while 41 percent find 3G sufficient. Increased spending on mobile data with 4.5G constitutes the concern of 37 percent.

Consumers prefer a 4.5G operator partnering with global brands like Facebook, Instagram, etc. rather than local developers to enhance the mobile services experience.

Higher user satisfaction in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir

Consumer satisfaction rose by 3 points over the past two years to reach 68 percent. The satisfaction rate stands at 77 percent in Istanbul, Ankara, and İzmir, and 51 percent in other cities.

Consumers using smartphone mobile services more frequently are more satisfied. To be specific, 83 percent of consumers who use more than nine mobile applications a day are satisfied with their operator, whereas the satisfaction rate is only 59 for those using three or fewer apps a day.

Although performance criteria such as speed and coverage still play a key role in user satisfaction (40% in 2016); services like customer support, value for money, and initial purchase are rising in importance in the last two years, from 42 to 60 percent.

There is room for improvement, especially in terms of customer support. There is a gap between top-tier cities and other cities in customer care satisfaction level, specifically in terms of support staff’s technical knowledge and processing time.

40% of consumers find data performance improved over the last two years

40% of consumers report better data speed and coverage compared to two years ago, yet believe that there is still room for improvement. As for data or voice transfer, 20% of the consumers across Turkey, 14% of residents of top-tier cities, and 31% of the consumers living in other cities report facing at least 5 performance-related problems per day. Turkey has room for performance improvement, except for top-tier cities.

Half of the consumers consider file transfer speed on apps like WhatsApp a key performance indicator. Approximately 40 percent of consumers evaluate performance according to online video load/buffer time, online voice and video call clarity, app download speed as well as social media photo upload time.