Choices in both price and service offerings are the top priorities for telecommunications consumers – who will pay more if they can get more personalized services, according to a new report from Signals Research Group.

Consumers prefer that pricing be based on usage and specific applications rather than bandwidth or performance, bundling, casual usage or free access with advertising.

Signals Research says the findings offer telecom service providers insight into ways that they can generate more incremental revenue by selling tailored services to those consumers who have devices that are mobile data capable but are not yet part of a mobile data plan.

“In all countries surveyed, respondents strongly preferred a bundle of multiple services (two or three or four of their choosing) to any single service,” Signals Research said.

Some key findings:

  • “While they don’t need to have an infinite selection, customers want some choice and variety, because they want to use their mobile device for more than one application.
  • “Hotspot usage is an indicator that subscribers allocate mobile data spend to Wi-Fi, which can be a red flag for new business opportunity.
  • “Respondents who do not currently use mobile broadband with a tablet or laptop, but who do pay for hotspot connectivity represent a viable untapped market.
  • “Enthusiasts who pay for hotspot access spend $104 per year on hotspots vs. $76 per year for Non-Enthusiasts (Interestingly, there are a significant number of people who spend more than $500/year on hotspots in Brazil, whereas in the U.K., the majority don’t spend a penny on hotspots).”

The report was sponsored by Tekelec, a Morrisville company that provides equipment and software to telecom providers.

Signals Research studied data from nearly 3,500 mobile broadband users in Brazil, India, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States and the findings show found that consumers’ mobile preferences vary by geography.

Consumers in Brazil, India and South Korea prefer consumer and entertainment oriented services like Voice over Internet Protocol and video.

But in the United Kingdom and the United States, consumers prefer services geared toward productivity such as web browsing and e-mail.

And consumers in Brazil are more open to the option of free access, which indicates that users there could be more open to mobile advertising to subsidize that free access.