Survey shows wireless consumers are content, but not that content

Oracle Corp. (ORCL) released the results of a survey, “Opportunity calling: The future of mobile communications,” that questioned 3,000 mobile customers from around the world. The survey was released in connection with the company’s Oracle World event being held this week in San Francisco.
The survey found that while 82% of consumers said they were happy with their current provider, 77% said they would switch for a better price, presumably that better price being a lower price, while 83% said they would consider signing up for service with a well-known brand not associated with the telecom space. The caveat to that last one being if that brand offered similar pricing and quality to established wireless providers.
The survey also noted that despite recent movement by operators in rolling out tiered data pricing plans, consumers are still most interested in unlimited models, and are willing to pay for them. Oracle found that 61% of consumer surveyed said they would pay 7% more per month to keep an unlimited data plan, while 59% said they would spend 5% more each month for unlimited text messaging.
The desire for unlimited data could come in handy going forward as consumers are also increasingly looking to their mobile devices to handle more functions. The survey found that 54% of respondents think that in five years they will use their phone as a GPS device, 31% as a credit card and 24% to start their cars.
And while consumers expressed interest in paying more for unlimited data services, they also said they would be willing to pay less in exchange for receiving advertisements on their phones. According to the survey, 64% of consumers said they would be up for a discount on their mobile bill if that also meant they would have advertisements sent to their device, though only 33% said they would be interested in location-based advertisements due to perceived privacy concerns.
So, there you go mobile industry. Take what you can from those numbers. But be aware that the 3,000 consumers surveyed from around the world represents less than one-ten thousandth of the world’s mobile customers.