The characteristics of mobile data service users in Australia

Mobile Data Services (MDS) are increasingly important as revenues from voice calling are decreasing for mobile carriers, and there are many predictions that the use of MDS will increase in Australia. To explore the characteristics of MDS users, we conducted a survey with over 6000 respondents in Australia. The findings show that age is the most important demographic variable which influences the pattern of MDS use. In addition, gender and household income have a role in describing each group’s consumption of MDS more precisely. We conclude the paper by presenting limitations of the study and outlining some possible future research.