The MMBAA Completed a Survey about the Mobile Phone Users in Macau SAR

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During the middle of June MMBAA conducted a survey to study the usage patterns of Macau's mobile phone users and to collect opinions of the local citizens towards liberalization of the telecommunications market. The Association collected 500 valid questionnaires and the results are compiled into a report which was released on 22nd July 2001.

The key findings of this survey are:

• Development of Macau's mobile market is behind the other advanced economies in the region.

• The mobile market in Macau is still at the development stage where most people use mobile phones for personal voice contacts. Value-added services are not popular. People in Macau also seem not very interested in trying new mobile services.

• A large portion of the respondents who do not use mobile phones at present said there is no need. But most of them would consider buying one in the future.

• Most people expect to see a drop in price after the mobile market is liberalized. Another important finding in the survey is that consumers would like to exercise their rights to choose from competitive offers. Among the people who will consider trying the offers by the new mobile companies, many of them are not very concerned whether or not they can keep their old numbers or if there if any real monetary savings.

• It is discovered that liberalization would not lead to any loss in market value. On the contrary, consumers can benefit from cheaper prices and spend the money in other services/products. Together with the increased investment in the mobile sector, these will result in a net gain in the overall economy of Macau.