世論 What Japan Thinks

NEPRO JAPAN recently published the results of a survey into economising on one’s mobile phone bill. On one day in mid-December of last year they questioned 3,425 people across the three main Japanese carriers, DoCoMo’s iMode, Softbank’s Yahoo! Keitai and au and TU-KA’s EZweb, by means of a public poll available through the main menus of all three carriers’ systems. 44% of the sample were male; 3% were teenagers, 35% in their twenties, 44% in their thirties, and 18% aged forty and over.

Similar questions were asked of a similar group around the same time last year, so one can perhaps observe a trend over the past year.

I’ve actually now worked out how to read my mobile phone bill, I hope, and with all my discounts and whatever in place, it costs me around ¥4,000 per month for just a little talk time, some surfing, and free email exchange with my wife.

Q1: A mobile phone bill of about how much per month would be expensive to you? (Sample size=3,425)

Over 5,000 yen	12%
Over 10,000 yen	49%
Over 15,000 yen	23%
Over 20,000 yen	11%
Over 25,000 yen	2%
Over 30,000 yen	2%
Over 40,000 yen	0%
Over 50,000 yen	1%
Would never think any amount was expensive	0%

Q2: Are you conscious of economising on your mobile phone bill? (Sample size=3,425)

	Last Year	This Year
Very aware	20%	23%
A little aware	56%	54%
Neither aware nor unaware	8%	0%
Not very aware	12%	20%
Not at all aware	4%	3%

There has just been a slight increase in awareness here, one perhaps that is nothing more than a statistical fluctuation.

Q3: For those aware of economising, how do you try to economise? (Sample size=those aware of economising, multiple answer)

	Last Year	This Year
Use a flat-rate data packet transfer plan	56%	82%
Use a long-term loyalty discount scheme	46%	64%
All family members use same carrier	43%	50%
Review billing plan	42%	45%
Use email instead of voice calls	35%	32%
Cut back on pay site usage	21%	22%
Cut back on data transfer (eg write shorter emails)	8%	12%
Restrict outgoing calls and data	3%	4%
Make phone calls at off-peak times if possible	3%	3%
Other	21%	9%

Note that the order is almost identical to last year – just the last two items are swapped around – but the number of people trying to save by choosing all-you-can-use plans has increased by about 50%. Per haps this reflects the increased penetration of 3G handsets, as in DoCoMo’s case (and perhaps the pother carriers too?) the so-called pake-hodai unlimited (with exceptions…) data plans are only available for their 3G models.

Q4: Are you satistfied with the size of your monthly mobile phone bill? (Sample size=3,425)

Yes, and I’m conscious of economising	31%
Yes, but I don’t think about economising	16%
No, but I have scope to economise	23%
No, and I need to economise more	17%
No, but I don’t think about economising	3%
Can’t really say either way	10%

Q5: With the introduction of number portability, have you thought about changing service providers as one way of saving money? (Sample size=3,245)

Considered it deeply	9%
Thought about it a little	16%
Can’t say either way	11%
Not thought about it much	37%
Not thought about it at all	27%