The British: Online and Mobile

May 2002

Three people in four throughout Great Britain now possess a mobile telephone, half again as many people on the phone as were connected when I arrived on these shores just over three decades ago. Long since has the land-line connections exceeded 90%, but in 1969, my first year here, only just over half the British public, and fewer than four in ten among the working class, were on the telephone. Digital TV is taking off at even a steeper rate than did mobile phones, now beginning to taper off, with 44% of the British reporting they've switched from analogue to digital.

Ownership of mobile telephones and digital TV, and use of the internet from the MORI Technology Tracker, c. 4,000 interviews (face-to-face) monthly carried out among British adults nationwide.

Just under half (45%) of the British are now (as of January 2002) on the internet, according to the MORI Technology Tracker, as are a quarter (23%) of those in Northern Ireland and just under a third (31%) of those in the Republic, according to the parallel findings of our sister company in Belfast and Dublin, MORI-MRC in December 2001. Two people in three in the Republic of Ireland and six in ten of those in Northern Ireland have mobiles.

British, Northern Irish and Irish ownership of mobile telephones and digital TV, and use of the internet from the MORI Technology Tracker, carried out in Britain by MORI and in Ireland by MORI Ireland.

While the gender split among the adult population is some 48% men and 52% women, among mobile phone users 56% are men and 44% are women. As Figure 3 reports, among ABs, those in professional and managerial occupations (some quarter of the population), eight in ten own mobile phones, seven in ten use the Internet, and 45% have digital TV. Even among DEs, those in unskilled jobs or living on state-provided benefits who represent about 28% of the adult population of Britain, six in ten are carrying around their mobile, and one in five are on line.

British ownership of mobile telephones and digital TV, and use of the Internet by social class.

While the implications of this are clear for the marketers, they are less clear for the public relations practitioner. Clearly habits are changing, and land line telephone use and even penetration are declining. Telemarketing is shifting from telephone listings to unlisted mobile phones, and digital television usage and text messaging are in their infancy in terms of their use for marketing and carrying pr messages. Will the public put up with it? In America, there is increasing use of answerphone screening devices to filter out unwanted calls, and use software which filters out spam internet messages which send out unwanted porno and other offers of pay-for-use internet access.

Updates of the penetration of mobile phone and digital TV use and internet access are available free from the Technology Tracker