Europeans Favour Ban On Mobile Phone Use In Public Buildings

More than eight out of ten (85%) people in France are in favour of blocking mobile phone signals in public places, such as concert halls, according to new research by Taylor Nelson Sofres (TNS.

In addition, in Finland and Italy (where more than 80% of the population have mobile phones, against 60% penetration in France), support for the use of mobile phone blocking technology is also relatively high, (72% in Finland and 73% in Italy).

The research was undertaken at a time when there are plans to change or review the laws in some countries, such as France, to prevent the use of mobile phones in certain public places - such as cinema, theatres, restaurants and hospitals - by scrambling radio signals.

Other key findings include:

Younger people across all three countries are least supportive of GSM jamming in public buildings. In France, for example, a little more than six out of ten (63%) under-35s are in favour of mobile phone blocking, in contrast with more than three quarters (76%) of the over-35s.

In Finland and Italy, mobile phone users are less supportive of jamming than non-users, (43% of users compared to 53% of non-users in Finland, and 53% compared to 62% in Italy).

Alain Imbert, Director, TNS Telecoms said:
"These relatively high levels of support for GSM jamming in certain types of public venues suggests that users and non-users alike feel that mobile phone usage can be intrusive and are keen to see measures taken to limit its impact.

"There are many technical questions that need to be addressed, for example how do you fine tune the jamming device to ensure that it doesn’t affect mobile usage outside or near to the building that is using it?"

A total of 1,834 interviews were conducted using a representative sample of people aged 15+ in Finland (309 individuals interviewed by telephone), in France (1,023 interviewed face-to-face) and in Italy (402 interviewed by telephone) between 19 December 2001 and 16 January 2002.

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