epa05152409 (18/18) Thai teenagers use their mobile phones at a shopping center in Bangkok, Thailand, 04 August 2015. Excessive mobile phone usage has been a common global phenomenon in the 21st century, with some studies going as far as to label it an addiction; and with 87.5 million mobile subscriptions among the country's 67.2 million inhabitants, Thailand is no exception. As many users often buy multiple phone numbers, it isn't surprising that the number of mobile phone subscriptions is higher than the country's entire population. Worldwide mobile phone subscriptions in 2018 are expected to reach 4.5 billion due to a notable increase in the number of smart-phone subscriptions in the Asia-Pacific and Middle East/Africa regions. EPA/RUNGROJ YONGRIT PLEASE REFER TO THIS ADVISORY NOTICE (epa05152391) FOR FULL PACKAGE TEXT
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysians are the overall ‘digital frontrunners’ compared to other nations’ Internet users, leading Internet communication within Telenor’s global footprint.
Digi, releasing findings of a study by parent company Telenor’s research arm Telenor Research, said in a statement that digital frontrunners referred to digitally advanced young people who used Internet on their mobile phones.
The survey, covering 16-35 year old digital frontrunners in Malaysia, Thailand, Pakistan, Serbia, Hungary, Sweden and Norway, found that a resounding 62% of respondents in Malaysia consider mobile apps the “most important” communication service available to them on a mobile phone.
“This is in stark contrast to all other surveyed markets which consider mobile voice services to be the most important. Only 19% of Malaysian agreed voice calls to be the most essential,” Digi said.
Supporting this finding is Malaysians’ high daily use of Internet communications at about 85%, and low daily use of telecommunications services at roughly 65% — the highest and lowest indicators respectively across all surveyed markets.
Digi said messaging apps were noted as the preferred Internet communication service for being in touch with others, with 80% using this on a daily basis.
The rising popularity of messaging apps in Malaysia is equally reflected in most of the surveyed countries, although there are variances. More than half of the respondents in all surveyed countries said they use messaging apps several times a day. Only two nations noted less than 50% usage, including Sweden at 44% and Pakistan at a notable 29%.
For one-to-one communications on mobiles via the Internet, Malaysians can’t get enough of WhatsApp; only a small 3% of those surveyed saying they use it less than once a month.
However, the situation varies in other countries, with Thais opting for LINE, Pakistanis equally choosing WhatsApp, Serbians employing Viber and Swedes preferring email. Overall, Facebook remains uniformly strong across all the surveyed countries in addition to their cited top preferences.
After messaging apps, Malaysian digital frontrunners use daily to several times per day traditional mobile voice (56%) and SMS services (49%) on their phones, trailed by newer Internet voice communications (34%) and video calls (28%).
However, the ‘daily’ use of SMS communications services for Malaysians has dramatically declined from 88% in 2012 to 73% in 2014 and finally 49% in 2015, among those surveyed for this study.
“Reflecting the same pattern is the daily social media posting in Malaysia, which went from 48% in 2012, peaked at 58% in 2014 and then dropped in 2015 to 42%. Malaysians’ use of Internet voice and video calls followed similar peaks in 2014, indicating the country’s frontrunners’ use may be linked to early adoption when new technologies are first launched,” Digi said.
The Telenor Group study was carried out in the fourth quarter of 2015 on a sample of 5,600 people. The way these users apply Internet on their mobiles, gives indications as to how the wider demographic in the respective countries will adopt mobile Internet in the years ahead, Digi said.
“It is crucial to have surveys like this one looking at ‘digital frontrunners’ who can help forecast future industry trends,” said Telenor Research head of research Bjørn Taale. “Not only is this information beneficial in planning our digital services, it is also interesting to see the resemblance between nations as diverse as Thailand, Hungary, Pakistan or Norway. Just when we think that two nations may be following the same evolution, local nuances show that we are as unique as we are similar.”
Overall, Asia leads in adoption of new mobile Internet services. This is underscored by Malaysian respondents who cited some of the highest percentage of weekly usage across the surveyed markets in map services (50%) and playing games (68%).
“Given our presence across diverse regions in Asia and Europe, we need to listen to our customers and evolve alongside them. If we find that that millennial Malaysians cherish their messaging applications or online shopping is a passion for young Thais, then it’s our job as the leading regional digital service provider to track that and meet their needs,” said Taale.
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