WebProNews

Faced with the need to cutback on household expenses, forty-eight percent of Americans would drop their mobile data plan completely, while only 10 percent would cancel their home broadband subscription, according to new research by Strategy Analytics.

"Given the extraordinary importance consumers place on home broadband, we fully expected broadband to have a high 'keep rate,'" said Ben Piper, Director of the Strategy Analytics Multiplay Market Dynamics Service. "What surprised us was the vulnerability of mobile services."

In the same situation, 12 percent of Americans said they would drop their pay-TV service completely, while 41 percent said they would switch to a less expensive subscription plan. More than half (56%) of respondents said they would make no changes to their home fixed voice service, compared to 51 percent for mobile voice.

"These results suggest that, while American consumers consider home broadband service to be a vital utility, they see mobile data service as simply a 'nice to have,'" said David Mercer, Vice-President of the Strategy Analytics Digital Consumer Practice.

The study, conducted in early June, surveyed 1,110 household decision makers about their multiplay spending intentions over the next year, the impact of the economy on household entertainment purchases, and the relative importance of each component.