Around 30 million of 69 million urban Generation Z (Gen-Z) consumers in India own mobile phones, and three million of these use mobile broadband on their phones, according to communications technology and services provider Ericsson's new ConsumerLab study.
Generation X and Y are those born between 1965 and 1979, and 1980 and 1995 respectively, and the report titled 'The digital lives of Generation Z' defines Gen-Z as those born between 1994 and 2004.
“This report captures the insights of a dynamic consumer group. These young people will shape the future mobile consumption for our industry," said Fredrik Jejdling, head of the region, Ericsson India.
Ericsson ConsumerLab India conducted the comprehensive study across 16 cities in India with 3,421 face-to-face interviews with 9-18-year-old mobile phone users and 1,000 parents across 7,785 urban households – representative of an urban consumer base of 69 million across all socio-economic classes.
The survey was conducted on a pan-India level with a diverse mix of cities covered: four metros as well as other cities like Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Patna, Kota, Chandigarh, Pune, Guwahati, Cuttack, Ujjain and Belgaum.
The key findings show that mobile ownership is catching on at an early age, with 30 million out of 69 million urban members of Gen-Z owning mobile phones. And, 21% of urban Indian kids (9-11 years) and tweens (12-15 years) mirror mobile internet services usage as seen among their older counterparts.
In fact, kids and tweens are more likely than teens (16-18 years) to stream a video on YouTube once a week. They spend roughly seven hours daily with gadgets either on mobile phones, watching TV and using gaming consoles. A total of 58% of Gen-Z is now willing to give up watching TV in favour of browsing internet on a mobile phone, the report said.
According to the study, social media is becoming more important for Gen-Z, with 77% venting their frustration on poor service experience over social media which leads them to expect instant resolution of their issues and queries and constant feedback via social media itself.
“Mobile broadband adoption within this segment is driven by family dynamics. Parents using mobile broadband were more likely to introduce their children to the technology as well. Today, three million mobile broadband users in urban India are aged under 18; 35% of non-users with capable handsets are willing to take up mobile broadband in the next three months,” it added.
Only one in three urban parents are able to keep track of their children’s communication activities and expect service providers to offer services in order to manage and monitor their children’s mobile and internet usage, the report said.
“A total of 76% of the urban parents expect service providers to provide them with call and message log details of their kids; 63% of parents are interested in an app to block unwarranted content. Interestingly, 30% of 9-18-year-olds use a privacy screen to prevent others from seeing their phone.”
