Lack of Interest Mobile Data Services, finds Survey

As many as four in ten of UK mobile users are uninterested in using their phones for anything other than basic voice calls, according to a survey in the Financial Times' Creative Business.

This news comes hard on the heels of that from retail outlets saying GPRS services are not being taken up - figures of about 1% have been cited of people actually connecting enabled phones to a service.

Mobile phone companies in Britain have invested billions in licences allowing them to build 3G networks, which would enable them to offer their customers always-on, high speed, high bandwidth data channels.

New mobile phones released this week allow users to take and send photos. However, those who expressed interest in using their phone more flexibly in the FT survey showed enthusiasm predominantly for banking and paying for services this way, not media-rich connections.

The survey was carried out in five stages, including both quantitive polling and focus groups involving a total of almost 2,500 respondents.

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