- Contents
- *Overview
- What you need to know
- Key issues covered in this Report
- Issues covered in this Report
What you need to know
Just as consumers were recovering from COVID-19’s impact on their lifestyles and phone habits, the cost of living crisis has put more consumers under financial pressure in 2022. This will lead to changes in how consumers use their phones, the subscription types they use and how often they choose to upgrade their handsets. Despite these difficulties, mobile phones remain ubiquitous among Irish consumers, and consumers are increasingly looking to find more sustainable ways of using them.
Key issues covered in this Report
The impact of the cost of living crisis on mobile phone usage among both NI and RoI consumers.
Which handset brands are the most prevalent among Irish smartphone users.
Which phone networks are the most used among consumers and if consumers prefer prepaid or postpaid subscriptions.
How the rollout of 5G has progressed in Ireland, and to what degree NI consumers have adopted the new service.
The activities that consumers mainly use their smartphones for.
Issues covered in this Report
This Report covers the Irish consumer market for mobile phones and mobile network providers. Mobile phones are defined as any device being used to place or receive calls by connecting to a mobile network. ‘Basic mobile phones’ and ‘Feature phones’ are terms used to describe non-smartphones.
Mobile networks are defined as networks providing either data, voice or SMS (Short Message Service) facilities to a mobile device. Data delivered over Wi-Fi is not included under the ‘data’ category. Primarily, this Report refers to the use of mobile networks through traditional mobile phones or smartphones. However, reference is also made to tablet devices as these can connect to mobile networks for data.
Network connections can come in two forms – prepaid and postpaid. The former involves buying credit for a phone, which is then worked through, while the latter refers to the use of a handset with a monthly contract charge covering the previous month’s usage.
Prepaid is better known to consumers as ‘pay-as-you-go’ (PAYG) and is referred to as such throughout this Report. Similarly, ‘postpaid’ is better known to consumers as ‘contract’ and is referred to as such throughout this Report. SIM-only refers to a contract with a phone that has been paid off.
