Polish tech users ill-informed on UMTS

Report by Taylor Nelson Sofres Telecom (TNST) says that mobile phone ownership in Poland is significantly lower than in other countries.
By : Roseanne Gerin

   Only 21% of all Internet and mobile-phone users in Poland are well-informed about third-generation wireless Internet technology, according to a report issued in June by Taylor Nelson Sofres Telecom (TNST) (http://www.tnsofres.com/press/pressstory.cfm?storyid=526), a global telecom research group.

   Poles fared better than the French, of whom only 11% said they had a good understanding of the technology, but worse than their German neighbors: 44% of them said they are well-informed about Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), the commercially unavailable third-generation mobile technology that is expected to deliver fast Internet access and data transmission via cellular handsets.

   Conversely, about 77% of Internet and mobile-phone users in Poland say they have no knowledge of or are poorly informed about third-generation wireless technology compared to 56% respondents in Germany, 86% in Great Britain and 89% in the United States.

   The TNST survey also measured respondents' levels of interest in UMTS on a scale from one to six with the latter number representing the highest level of interest. The average number for all 13 countries where the survey was conducted was 3, whereas in Poland it was 3.2. Poles with an awareness of UMTS said they were mostly interested in it for Internet access.

   The survey also pointed out that mobile phone ownership in Poland was significantly lower than in other countries. While only 26% of Poles age 15 and older own cell phones, 59% of Germans, 68% of Danes and 75% of Norwegians have handsets. About 56% of Poland's mobile-phone owners use short message service (SMS) to send brief notes via cell phones from once a day to two or three times per month. More than 90% of all mobile phone users in all the European countries surveyed said they use SMS.

   TNST polled 13,000 people age 15 and older who use mobile phones and/or the Internet. The survey was conducted last April and May through face-to-face and telephone interviews in 12 European countries and the United States.