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Consumers Want More Local Content From Wireless Service Providers Says New Quarterly TNS Telecoms Research

Posted on: Wednesday, 13 July 2005, 09:00 CDT

Demand for some "next gen" services such as video fall flat -

traffic and weather win praises; Quarterly results show highest

recorded levels of consumer wireless spending

As consumers are presented with a host of next generation wireless services, interest in those services remains tepid - unless they're going to help consumers dodge raindrops and traffic jams. The latest quarterly survey from TNS Telecoms indicates that 20 percent of households are interested in a service that provides local weather and traffic alerts via text messaging. In contrast, only six percent (6%) of households indicated they would be interested in sports programming and 7 percent (7%) indicated interest in watching clips of television shows.

"Localized wireless services such as weather, traffic, driving directions and restaurant reservations all seem to present an untapped market for wireless service providers," stated Charles White, Vice President of TNS Telecoms. "Although 20 percent of consumers report interest in services like local weather and traffic updates, only two percent (2%) report having used such a service. The research also shows that customers interested in these features are already among the highest value wireless customers."

In addition to these results, the latest quarterly results also showed a significant increase of almost five percent (5%) in total telecommunications spending to $167.61 per month. Spending growth recognized in each service category took total telecom spending to its highest recorded levels.

Telecom Industry Market Share and Tracking - First Quarter 2005 --------------------------------------------------------------- Service Penetrations Penetration Change from Last Service Rate Quarter ----------------------------------------------------------- Local 95% -1 ----------------------------------------------------------- Wired Line Long Distance 82% -1 ----------------------------------------------------------- Wireless 71% 0 ----------------------------------------------------------- PC 77% 1 ----------------------------------------------------------- Internet At Home 68% 1 ----------------------------------------------------------- Cable TV 61% 1 ----------------------------------------------------------- Satellite TV 22% -1 ----------------------------------------------------------- PDA 14% 0 ----------------------------------------------------------- Paging 6% 0 ----------------------------------------------------------- Wired Line Share of Revenue (Share includes total spending on local, IntraLATA and InterLATA long distance and local and LD integrated plan spending) Company Share of Revenue Change from Last Quarter --------------------------------------------------------------- Verizon 21% -2 --------------------------------------------------------------- SBC 20% 1 --------------------------------------------------------------- BellSouth 12% 1 --------------------------------------------------------------- AT&T 8% 0 --------------------------------------------------------------- Qwest 6% -1 --------------------------------------------------------------- MCI 5% 1 --------------------------------------------------------------- Sprint 5% -1 --------------------------------------------------------------- Other 23% 1 --------------------------------------------------------------- Share of Bundled Customers (Share of households with bundled local and LD services from the same provider) Company Share of Change from Share of Change from Households Last Revenue* Last Quarter Quarter ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Verizon 20% -3 21% -3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SBC 26% 1 22% 0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- BellSouth 10% 1 12% 1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- AT&T 7% 1 8% 1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- MCI 4% 0 5% 0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Qwest 6% -1 5% -1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sprint 4% 0 4% -1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Frontier/Citizens 2% 0 2% 0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Comcast 2% 0 2% 0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Other 20% 2 19% 3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- *Reflects a revised methodology for calculating bundled and non-bundled revenue Local Phone Services Market Share Share of All Share of Households Non-Bundle (Includes Revenue* all (Includes Share of households Change only Change Customers Change including from households from in from those with Last without Last service Last Company bundles) Quarter bundles) Quarter Territory Quarter ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Verizon 24% -1 26% -1 78% -6 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SBC 24% 0 21% 2 79% -2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- BellSouth 12% 0 16% 0 86% 1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Qwest 8% 0 10% 0 83% 2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sprint 5% 0 6% -1 96% 1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Other 28% 2 21% 0 N/A ---------------------------------------------------------------------- *Reflects a revised methodology for calculating bundled and non-bundled revenue LD Phone Service Market Share (Includes IntraLATA and InterLATA calling) Share of All Share of Households Non-Bundle (Includes Revenue* all (Includes households only including Change from households Change from those with Last without Last Company bundles) Quarter bundles) Quarter ---------------------------------------------------------------------- AT&T 18% 1 35% 1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SBC 19% 1 1% 0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Verizon 15% -2 2% 0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- MCI 8% 1 16% 1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sprint 6% 0 7% 0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- BellSouth 7% 1 0%** 0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- VarTec 2% -1 3% 1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Qwest 5% 0 2% 0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Other 30% -2 34% -3 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- * Reflects a revised methodology for calculating bundled and non-bundled revenue ** Indicates rounded share less than one-half percent Wireless Services Market Share Change Change Share of from Last Share of from Last Company Households Quarter Revenue Quarter ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Verizon Wireless 26% -2 27% -1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Cingular 20% 1 20% 2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- AT&T Wireless 12% -1 10% -2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sprint PCS 11% 1 13% 2 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- T-Mobile 9% 1 9% 1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ALLTEL Wireless 5% -1 4% -1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Nextel 4% 0 6% 0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Cellular One 2% 0 2% 0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Other 13% 0 9% -1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Internet Connection Household Share Company Share of Change Company Share of Change Dial-up from Last Broadband from Households Quarter Households Last Quarter ------------------------------- --------------------------------- AOL 29% 0 Comcast 19% 0 ------------------------------- --------------------------------- MSN 5% -1 SBC 12% 0 ------------------------------- --------------------------------- Earthlink 6% 1 Cox 8% 0 ------------------------------- --------------------------------- NetZero 5% 0 Verizon 10% 2 ------------------------------- --------------------------------- AT&T 4% 0 Time Warner 8% 0 ------------------------------- --------------------------------- Juno 4% 0 Charter 5% -1 ------------------------------- --------------------------------- Other 47% 0 Other 39% 0 ------------------------------- --------------------------------- Cable/Satellite Service Market Share Change Change from from Share of Last Share of Last Company Households Quarter Revenue Quarter ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Comcast 25% 1 24% 1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- DirecTV 14% -1 15% -1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Time Warner 12% 1 13% 1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Dish Network 12% 0 12% 0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Charter Communications 7% 0 6% -1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Cox Communications 7% 0 7% 0 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Adelphia 4% -2 4% -1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Other 20% 1 19% 1 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Share of Customer Spending (Share of total telecom spending spent on each product category) Service Share of Change from Revenue Last Quarter ------------------------------------------- Wired 27% 0 ------------------------------------------- Wireless 32% 0 ------------------------------------------- Video 28% 0 ------------------------------------------- Internet 13% 0 ------------------------------------------- Average Consumer Spending (across all households) Service Average Monthly Percent Change Spending* from Last Quarter ------------------------------------------------------- Wired $45.28 4% ------------------------------------------------------- Wireless $53.51 6% ------------------------------------------------------- Cable/Satellite TV $46.50 5% ------------------------------------------------------- Internet $22.32 4% ------------------------------------------------------- Total $167.61 5% ------------------------------------------------------- * Wired line spending was adjusted to reflect local phone penetration Average Consumer Spending (only for households which actually use the service) Service Average Monthly Percent Change Spending from Last Quarter ------------------------------------------------------- Local $38.06 5% ------------------------------------------------------- Long Distance $13.89 4% ------------------------------------------------------- Wireless $75.37 5% ------------------------------------------------------- Video $57.12 4% ------------------------------------------------------- Internet $32.79 3% ------------------------------------------------------- Share of Communications Wallet Share of Communications Wallet represents the percentage of the total consumer dollars spent with each provider on Communications services. Share of Change from Company Communications Previous Quarter Wallet ----------------------------------------------------------- Comcast 9% 1 ----------------------------------------------------------- Verizon Wireless 8% 0 ----------------------------------------------------------- Verizon 7% -1 ----------------------------------------------------------- SBC 7% 0 ----------------------------------------------------------- Cingular Wireless 6% 1 ----------------------------------------------------------- Sprint* 6% 1 ----------------------------------------------------------- DirecTV 4% -1 ----------------------------------------------------------- BellSouth 4% 0 ----------------------------------------------------------- Time Warner 4% 0 ----------------------------------------------------------- T-Mobile 3% 1 ----------------------------------------------------------- AT&T Wireless 3% -1 ----------------------------------------------------------- Dish Network 3% 0 ----------------------------------------------------------- AT&T 3% 0 ----------------------------------------------------------- Cox 3% 0 ----------------------------------------------------------- Charter 2% 0 ----------------------------------------------------------- Qwest 2% 0 ----------------------------------------------------------- AOL 1% -1 ----------------------------------------------------------- ALLTEL Wireless 1% -1 ----------------------------------------------------------- MCI 1% 0 ----------------------------------------------------------- Other 21% -1 ----------------------------------------------------------- *Includes both Sprint and Sprint PCS Interest in Wireless Features Households Wireless Feature/Service Interested ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Receive local weather and/or traffic alerts through text messaging 20% ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Download ringtones 18% ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Ringback service (a song clip plays for callers instead of a basic ring) 16% ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Use a wireless phone to make dinner or hotel reservations 16% ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Access the latest news, weather, sports, etc/ from newspapers or other publications 13% ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Make small purchases such as using vending machines or public transportation, by entering a code on a wireless phone 13% ---------------------------------------------------------------------- View regular television shows over a wireless phone 10% ---------------------------------------------------------------------- View short clips or highlights of TV shows, newly released movie previews or sporting events on a wireless phone 7% ---------------------------------------------------------------------- View sports programs, such as ESPN, over a wireless phone 6% ----------------------------------------------------------------------

About the Research

TNS Telecoms collects responses through its Bill Harvesting(R) database from 32,000 U.S. households that provide their complete set of telecommunications bills, promotional bill inserts and telecom direct mail communications each year. In the business market, TNS Telecoms' BusinessWave(R) research gathers telecom behavior information from small, medium and large businesses across the U.S. Together this syndicated information provides a number of product offerings including databases, TNS reports and online applications allowing national, state, city and micro level analysis across the U.S.

About TNS Telecoms

TNS Telecoms, the specialist telecoms division of TNS, is a global provider of strategic and tactical market information and analysis for telecom service providers and the entire telecommunications industry. Its range of syndicated research solutions and custom capabilities allows TNS Telecoms to meet the changing market information challenges of telecom-related businesses. For more information please go to http://www.tnstelecoms.com.

About TNS

TNS is a market information group. We are the world's largest custom research company and a leading provider of social and political polling. We are also a major supplier of consumer panel, TV audience measurement and media intelligence services.

TNS operates a global network spanning 70 countries and employs over 13,000 people. We provide market information and measurement, together with insights and analysis, to local and multinational organizations.

We combine our specialist sector knowledge with expertise in the areas of new product development, motivational research, brand and advertising research and stakeholder management to bring our clients up-to-the minute, internationally consistent information.

We think differently to help our clients build competitive advantage, making TNS the sixth sense of business.

www.tns-global.com

Editor's Note: Please source all data and tables as "Source: TNS Telecoms." Second Quarter 2005 Tracking Metrics will be available in September 2005. Bill Harvesting and BusinessWave are registered trademarks of TNS Telecoms.

Source: Business Wire

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