INTELLIGENCE FROM THE BROADBAND ECONOMY

Youth must be served

There is a new breed of telecom customer that expects to have more control over the communication experience, according to a recent Forrester Research report. Younger consumers already exercise control over what they watch using TiVo and personal video recorders, over what they listen to via iPods and over their communications via Skype and other on-demand services, said Charles S. Golvin, Forrester principal analyst. Forrester surveyed 6000 businesses and 60,000 households in the U.S. and found younger consumers are more nomadic, are connected to multiple networks and want to dictate the timing of their communications experiences. Not only do youth communicate differently — 18- to 21-year-olds had the highest penetration of cell phones, broadband access and instant messaging — but they are the bellwether for other users. Younger consumers were the first to use their cell phones to replace wireline phones for long-distance calling, but older age groups are now following suit.

Source: Forrester Research

Source: Forrester Research

Source: Forrester Research

Source: Forrester Research