STUDY SAYS CONSUMERS SUPPORT NATIONAL WIRELESS DIRECTORY
A new report on wireless directory assistance (DA) by the Pierz Group, funded in part by wireless carriers, found that Americans appear increasingly open to having their wireless phone numbers listed, especially if they have some privacy safeguards. The survey found specifically that at least a quarter would opt-in to the type of DA under consideration by the CTIA.
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CTIA, which has been looking at the issue since 2002, is expected to announce in the first quarter of 2005 a limited liability corporation to be formed by members that will offer wireless customers an option to list in a national DA. Most of the national carriers, with the exception of Verizon Wireless, are expected to participate. In June, Verizon Wireless broke with other carriers to announce it wouldn’t support a national directory (CD June 22 p2).
Kathleen Pierz, author of the study, told us Tues. she constructed several scenarios to test the circumstances under which subscribers would willingly allow their numbers to be added to a database. For example, respondents were asked how they would regard a DA maintained by a 3rd party, which would never appear in print, and which would never be sold -- the CTIA proposal. More than 25% of respondents said they would join and 27% said they weren’t sure. “You very quickly get up to between 50 and 60% of the people in the database,” Pierz said. “That’s good. That’s very good.”
The Pierz study begins with a recognition that with the growing number of wireless phone users without a landline, and large number of wireline customers with unlisted numbers, 53% of all telephone subscribers in the U.S. are unreachable through DA services.
Among other results of the survey, Pierz tested a scenario under which subscribers would be listed but only to receive messages -- with the option of taking the call or ignoring it. On that question, 38% said they would list and 25% said they weren’t sure. The study also found that wireless subscribers may have a lowered expectation of privacy. The survey found that up to 11% of respondents would list their numbers without controls, compared to 2% just a year ago.
The study argued that the federal “do not call” list has worked well, based on the dramatic drop in the number of respondents who listed fear of telemarketing calls as the top reason for not wanting to participate in a mobile directory - -- 88% cited that as the top reason in 2001 compared to 13% in the latest survey.
The study also found that worldwide experiences vary widely on the success of “opt-out” lists. In Australia 10% and France 5% of wireless customers chose to list their numbers. Pierz said the reasons for the low participation were obvious: “No privacy protections were offered, numbers were printed in the directory, and consumers were actually charged to list their mobile number.” In contrast, 85% of mobile users in Norway agreed to join a list. Major factors for success there were free listings and the lack of a national telemarketing industry.