Mobile eating into fixed-line customers

Mobile broadband is becoming increasingly popular in the UK, to the detriment of fixed-line connections, according to a YouGov study.

Around one in eight mobile broadband users have either chosen it over a fixed-line ISP or used it to replace one.

And five per cent of people with both mobile and fixed-line broadband intend to cancel the fixed-line in the next year.

However, over a quarter of mobile broadband users are unlikely to renew their contracts or continue to use it on a pre-paid basis, with reasons like poor connection speed cited.

"Customers find mobile broadband easy to use and install but transmission speeds and to a lesser extend network coverage reduce the initial enjoyment of getting up and running," said Marek Vaygelt, of YouGov.

"It is in these areas that fixed ISPs have a distinct advantage and need to concentrate their marketing effort to minimise customer loss."

The report was named DongleTrack, as dongle refers to the data-card attached to a computer that can then access the internet using a mobile phone network.

However, the report does not reference mobile phone internet access, which is known as mobile internet, not mobile broadband.