Adoption of Location-Based Service Offers of Mobile Network Operators

Abstract

For several years German mobile network operators (MNO) have to cope with decreasing average voice service revenues per user (ARPU). Location-based services (LBS) are one mobile data service on which German MNO set their hopes to stop these decreases. LBS exploit the location information of a user’s mobile device to provide added value services dependent on a customer’s geographic context and individual preferences. To date, LBS offers of MNO have not yet achieved substantial market success in Germany. Therefore, investigations are required which explore reasons for the short falling past LBS adoption in Germany. This paper analyses data from an online as well as paper-based survey in Germany. The survey was administered to 662 participants to explore (potential) users’ willingness to adopt LBS and LBS-related perceptions. Results suggest that most LBS variants are (still) rather unknown among residential MNO customers in Germany. Perceived LBS usefulness is higher and data security concerns are lower if an individual has obtained actual LBS use experience. Thus, MNO should foster first LBS use experiences by e.g., free trial periods or by offering free basic LBS to promote LBS adoption in the consumer market.