Limited Control over Business Mobile Use

A survey of US end-users of b2b wireless technology, by The Yankee Group, suggests that corporations have trouble keeping track of spending in this complex market.

The Wireless Business User 100k Survey gathered data on 100,000 end-users in an effort to establish share and segmentation information for the sector, which accounts for approximately 29 percent of the US wireless market but has a mix of centralized and decentralized purchasing.

Almost one-third of business users acquired their wireless phone on their own without company input, but charge a part of their bill to their employer as expenses. Average revenue for these users is more than 70 percent higher than for corporate-sponsored users who do not charge any portion of their bill to expenses. The survey's definition of business users covers corporate-liable, corporate-sponsored, and personally acquired subscribers charging to expenses.

The Survey also provides a segmentation of users, a like-for-like comparison of carriers and market share calculations. Verizon Wireless has the leading market share among all business users, although a merged Cingular Wireless and AT&T Wireless would take over the number one spot. Nextel leads all carriers in market share among corporate-liable subscribers, with 37% of customers, followed by Verizon Wireless and AT&T Wireless.

According to Eugene Signorini, Yankee Group Wireless / Mobile Enterprise & Commerce program manager, 'Corporations have a poor understanding of their own wireless purchasing and spending, and often do not know the subscriber/carrier mix within their own organizations'.

The Group's Web site is at www.yankeegroup.com

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

• Yankee Group
• All news