Australians are bringing their own phone to new mobile plans
New research from Roy Morgan shows that Australia’s 18.6 million mobile phone owners are increasingly bringing their own phone when they buy a new mobile phone plan.
In 2019 the vast majority of Australians (89.9%) own a mobile phone. This is up 0.7% points on a year ago and up 2.1% points from two years ago.
Now over a quarter of Australians (26.8%) are on a post-paid mobile phone plan after providing their own mobile phone for the plan, up a significant 5.8% points from two years ago.
In addition nearly a third of Australians (32.9%) now have a pre-paid mobile phone, up 2.5% points from two years ago.
In contrast there has been a decline in the market for traditional mobile phone plans that include a handset with 29.7% of Australians now having a post-paid mobile phone plan that includes a new phone, down 6.8% points in two years.
Consumer pays mobile phone market: March 2019 cf. March 2017
Source: Roy Morgan Australian Single Source. October 2016 - March 2017, n=23,926 and October 2018 - March 2019, n=20,651. Base: Australians aged 14+.
Australians increasingly buying their mobile phone plans on the Internet
There has also been a shift in the way these pre-paid/’bring your own phone’ consumers purchase their mobile phone plans; from a shop is still the preferred way for over half (51.5%) of these consumers, however the numbers of customers purchasing a plan online has increased significantly by 7.9% points to 23.7% over the last two years.
Place of purchase of mobile phone plan for Australians bringing their own phones to new mobile phone plans or buying pre-paid mobile phone plans
Source: Roy Morgan Australian Single Source. October 2016 - March 2017, n=2,981 and October 2018 - March 2019, n=4,367. Base: Australians aged 14+ who are on a ‘Bring Your Own Device’/SIM only or pre-paid mobile phone plan. *From a shop was revised in April 2017.
Michele Levine, CEO Roy Morgan, says the growth in the Australian mobile market is being driven by Australians increasingly buying pre-paid phones or bringing their own mobile phone to a new plan:
“New research from Roy Morgan shows the Australian mobile market is changing as Australians increasingly choose pre-paid mobile phone plans and bring their own phone when upgrading to a new mobile phone plane.
“In 2019 over 18.5 million Australians own a mobile phone representing 89.9% of Australians. However, the proportion of Australians on post-paid mobile phone plans has dropped 0.9% points in a year driven lower by fewer mobile phone customers choosing post-paid mobile phone plans inclusive of the cost of a new phone – now at just 29.7%, down a stunning 6.8% points in only two years.
“Instead customers are choosing to bring their existing mobile phone to a new post-paid mobile phone plan which has increased 5.8% points from two years ago or choosing a pre-paid mobile phone plan. Pre-paid mobile phone plans now represent 32.9% of the market, up 2.4% points in two years.
“These trends are confirmed when asking people about their handsets. Now 86% of mobile phone users say their current handset was a new one when they obtained it which is down from over 90% in 2013. This trend indicates an increasing proportion of Australians are looking for value when signing up for a new plan rather than always insisting on a new phone. As improvements in mobile phone capability become more marginal this trend is likely to continue.
“Another important factor influencing consumer behaviour in the mobile phone market is the increasing proportion of Australians buying their new mobile phone plan online.
“For Australians buying pre-paid mobile phone plans or bringing their own phone to a new plan the Internet is increasingly the place to make the purchase – now at nearly a quarter of this market (23.7%). This is an increase of 7.9% points from only two years ago. A majority of 51.5% still head to a shop for the purchase, but this is down from 56.9% two years ago.
“Contact Roy Morgan to learn more about the trends that are sweeping through Australia’s mobile phone market and tap into our extensive Single Source database compiled from in-depth qualitative interviews with over 50,000 Australian consumers every year.”
Learn more about Roy Morgan’s Mobile Phone Service Provider customer profiles for leading Australian mobile networks including Telstra, Optus and Vodafone.
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Margin of Error
The margin of error to be allowed for in any estimate depends mainly on the number of interviews on which it is based. Margin of error gives indications of the likely range within which estimates would be 95% likely to fall, expressed as the number of percentage points above or below the actual estimate. Allowance for design effects (such as stratification and weighting) should be made as appropriate.
| Sample Size | Percentage Estimate |
| 40% – 60% | 25% or 75% | 10% or 90% | 5% or 95% | |
| 1,000 | ±3.0 | ±2.7 | ±1.9 | ±1.3 |
| 5,000 | ±1.4 | ±1.2 | ±0.8 | ±0.6 |
| 7,500 | ±1.1 | ±1.0 | ±0.7 | ±0.5 |
| 10,000 | ±1.0 | ±0.9 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 |
| 20,000 | ±0.7 | ±0.6 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 |
| 50,000 | ±0.4 | ±0.4 | ±0.3 | ±0.2 |
