2009 International Conference on New Trends in Information and Service Science

Mobile Phone Usage Behavior of University Students in Oman

Rakesh Belwal Shweta Belwal

Associate Professor, Faculty of Lecturer, Faculty of Business,
Business, Sohar University, Oman Sohar University, Oman
Email: rbelwal@soharuni.edu.om Email: shweta.belwal@gmail.com

Abstract countries, numbers of mobile connections have

exceeded their population (Telecommunications
The purpose of this paper is to study the mobile Reports, 2008). ITU Global statistics (2006) reveals
phone usage behavior of university students in Oman. there were 2,685 million mobile users globally which
A survey was conducted in Muscat and Sohar cities surpassed fixed lines (1270 mn), number of PCs (885
of Oman where 200 students were contacted using mn) and total internet users (1,131 mn).
questionnaires and interview methods. Students in
higher educational institutions were covered and China, United States, and India acquired the first
hypotheses about mobile services usage among three positions in terms of mobile subscriptions in
students were formulated and tested on different 2007. These countries together with Russia, Brazil,
aspects of mobile phone use. It was realized that and Japan independently had more than 100 million
Oman is very close to secure 100% penetration in mobile subscribers (ITU, 2007). Penetration level of
mobile adoption and newer mobile technologies are mobile services in Asia reveals that United Arab
available. Mobile usage related statistics revealed Emirates had the highest penetration of Mobile
that a majority of students prefer to have prepaid services (173.37%), followed by Macao (165.1%)
connections, spend more than 10 Omani Rials per and Qatar (150.41%). Figure 1 presents the
month on services, make less than 10 calls but more penetration level of mobile in the Middle East, It is
than 10 SMS per day, and depend on their parents for evident that Gulf Countries in particular witness
payment of bills. Nokia is the most popular handset higher mobile penetration. While UAE, Macao, and
brand among students and they tend to change Qatar occupy the top 3 positions in term of mobile
handsets at least in a year. It was significantly tested penetration, Oman acquires the 12th place. Looking
true that students have higher affinity to buy top end down further, in the Middle East UAE, Qatar,
mobile phones, they feel uncomfortable without Bahrain, Israel, and Saudi Arabia are the countries
mobile phones, they keep their mobile phone that have registed more than 100% mobile
switched on 24 hours, and they are equipped with penetration (see Figure 2). Kuwait and Oman are
almost every feature in their mobile. very close to score 100% mobile penetration. The
market could be attractive to marketers of mobile
handsets and services provided mobile usage
1. Introduction
behaviour is studied in different perspectives.
Mobile penetration is probably the fastest among ITU (2007) statistics indicate that Oman has
the digital products/ services across the world.
witnessed a very high degree of mobile penetration in
Human Development Report convey that, as a new
technology, Radio took 38 years, Personal Computer the past few years (see Figure 2). In the time span of
16, Television 13, and World Wide Web (WWW) 4 5 years marked between Year 2002 and Year 2007,
years to reach 50 million users (UNDP, 1999). But number of mobile subscribers has increased more
what about subscription to mobile services…. it than 5 times touching 2.5 million. However, fixed
seems to be the most remarkable one in terms of line subscribers grew only by 40,500 during that
adoption and coverage. The mobile services are period. In 2005, the entire population of Oman was
present and used now all over the globe. The
penetration can be witnessed by the fact that in some 2,509,000 comprising 1,843 thousand Omanis and
666 thousand expatriates (Ministry of National

978-0-7695-3687-3/09 $25.00 © 2009 IEEE 954

DOI 10.1109/NISS.2009.65
Economy, 2006). Two major regions viz. Muscat With the availability of mobile data services such
Governorate and Al-Batinah accounted for 55.1% of as VoIP and those offered on 3G and 3.5G networks,
the total population (Ministry of National Economy, mobile penetration is expected to increase to more
2006). than 100% mark like other GCC countries (Global
Insight, 2008). Oman's telecommunication regulatory
authority (TRA) has plans to invite firms to submit
proposals for a second fixed-line telecom license and
a third mobile phone license as it liberalizes its
telecommunications sector (Global Insight, 2008).

2. Mobile Services and Usage Behavior

Mobile technology has equally attracted people
of all ages. Newer generations (particularly net
generations) are better equipped with interactive
technologies as core , more experiential, engaged,
and constantly connected users exhibiting a strong
need for immediacy (Suki and Suki, 2007). The
popular usage could be identified as text messaging,
music downloading, game playing (Petroff, 2002).,
short conversation (SMS) , micro-coordination,
expression of emotions (Green, 2002), browsing
WAP portals , Email and purchasing ringtones and
Figure 1: Mobile Penetration in the Middle East
wallpapers (Armitt, 2005); twittering i.e.
According to ITU (2007), the Sultanate of Oman microbloging via SMS Cameron (2007); handset
had 2.5 million mobile subscribers in 2007 and the personalization services, offline games , transferring
sector witnessed a growth of 50% in 2007 as a whole. pictures, downloading icons/screensavers/logo/ring
Mobile penetration in Oman is approximately tones, utilize information services, instant messaging
96.33% (ITU, 2007). There are only two services and participate in voting events/polls/raffles as other
provider viz. Omantel (the government monopoly in mobile phone usage (Suki and Suki, 2007).
fixed line) having a market share of 60%, and
Verkasalo and Hammainen (2007), in their
Nawras (the sole private competitor in mobile sector)
handset based research on global subscribes
sharing the remaining 40% (Global Insight, 2008).
(panelists) in UK, Germany, USA, and Singapore
observe the use of smart mobiles under three specific
categories. These categories are Communication
(voice calls and SMS/MMS/e-mail/Bluetooth
messages used in connecting to others), application
(3rd party or vendor developed ones like Camera,
Phonebook, Messenger, document viewers, Logs,
Media Gallery, etc.), and packet data service usage
(e.g. browsing, messaging, multimedia, utility, and
others).

Calls an SMS services are most basic services in

mobile telephony. While call can be made by anyone
without any difficulty, SMS needs somehow more
activities to be performed. Despite, SMS is more
Figure 2: The Distribution of Fixed and Mobile popular mode of communication among younger
Services in Oman

955
generations. It is common to observe that phone mostly for writing messages to peers
adolescents in particular own mobile phones in very and family. .. female users spend more time
high numbers and participate in the highest rate of using mobile Internet services than their
SMS communication (Herman, 2007). The boost in male counterparts....young people exchange
TV based reality shows in India and the popularity between 15 and 20 messages in one session
rating by audience, has made them further popular .....Teenage girls have had a significant
among the people of all age groups particularly the impact on the use and design of mobile e-
youth, where for every single show in a day mail or text messaging....”.
thousands of SMS are sent by the audience (The
Financial Express, 2006). Usage of mobile services A leading mobile data services organization -
among adults and teens might somehow be different Ofcom , observes that while 3G networks have been
or similar across nations. Munnukka (2007) finds that in place in Japan, Italy, Sweden, the U.K., France,
the fast pace of development in mobile industry has and Italy since 2004, 3G data services has become a
created a growing need for academic research in the mass market proposition only recently as handset
field. prices have come down and operators have begun
actively to migrate their customer bases from 2G to
The people in age group of 12 to 27 form the 3G as part of the push for higher non-SMS data
largest demographic group the world over and are revenues (Telecommunications Reports, 2008).
known as Millennials, Gen Yers, echo boomers, or Likewise adoption, price sensitivity to mobile phones
IGen Cameron (2007). Taking into account the text and associated services differ across countries and
messaging services, while 9 out of 10 teens in UK society. Liao et al (2007) argue that third generation
send between one to four text messages per day; in technology (3G) is expected to support more
US, 57 percent have observed sending text messages multimedia services with improved quality and a
less than once per day (Petroff, 2002). Mobile higher data rate compared to global system for
invention has not only attracted teens and adults but mobile (GSM (2G)) and general packet radio service
also tweens ( simply said -children having 8-12 years (GPRS (2.5G)). They further express that:
of age). To define Tweens is rather complex
(Andersen et al., 2007). An in-depth study on the “In order to obtain a faster transmission
mobile media and cross media behavior of US tweens rate the GSM has been developed to include
conducted by The Nielsen Co. estimates that- 35 GPRS and EDGE (enhanced data for GSM
percent of tweens own a mobile phone; 20 percent evolution), but these technologies still do
have used text messaging and 21 percent have used not compare favorably with the modulation
ring and answer tones (Nielsen report, 2008). technology of 3G, dominated with the
Marketing efforts which until recently were mostly wideband code division multiple access
directed at teenagers, have started targeting the (WCDMA) and CDMA2000”.
“tweens” forming an important marketing segment
Discussions at 2003 Mobility Roundtable, held
(Andersen et al.,2007). After all, tweens of
at Stockholm also reveals that the tele-centric world
yesteryears are the matured market of today.
of 2/2.5/3G cellular network based services is
The usage of mobile technology is on an increase merging into Ethernet based data centric world with
with newer generations having a penchant towards its Wireless LANs (WiFi) (Thorngren et al.,2004).
diverse and advance usage. Examining the Japanese Munnukka (2007) observes that in introducing new
mobile sector Srivastava (2007) observes that: mobile communications services to target markets, it
is important to investigate the variables that can
“The penetration of mobile phones among accurately predict the most likely adopters of new
youths in Japan is remarkably high at over mobile communications services.
80 (95% among girls) percent… the young
people continue to have higher monthly Suki and Suki (2007) find mobile learning
phone bills... Teenagers use their mobile currently as a nascent market focused only on
entertainment and infotainment applications where

956
the adoption of advanced services such as mobile 4. Findings and analysis
phone payment, online mobile gaming and mobile
email have yet to reach noteworthy levels of usage. This section discusses the analysis and the
Several new technologies are yet to be utilized like findings emerging out of it. Before moving to
mobile credit cards (Amin, 2007), micropayments analysis, it would be appropriate to discuss in brief
etc. Though a significant use of Mobile services for the profile of sample respondents. Table 1 presents
social interactions is being observed all over the the profile and conveys that out of a total 179
world, its use in research and academic activities is respondent covered by the study, 90% were females.
not yet much popular (Olatokun and Bodunwa, This tilt in coverage was somehow expected since
2006). female student accounts for more than 70% of
university enrollments. Eighty eight per cent of the
Somehow, mobiles are being used for facilitating responds were less than 25 years of age; 80%
learning among students and for extending support unmarried; 83 % pursuing graduation, diploma or
services like library using simple and cost effective certificate programs. Approximately 16 % were
communications (Karim et al.,2006; Olatokun and employed and 25% were driving license holders.
Bodunwa, 2006; Herman, 2007). In the Malaysian
context significant differences have been identified Table 1. Profile of Sample Respondents (N=179*)
with respect to the usage of mobile phones for m-
learning between heavy and light mobile phone users Car license
where the former have been found accessing more Gender holders
than one type of mobile content with higher Male 17 (10)** Yes 45 (25)
frequency and expenditure than the latter (Suki and Female 161(90) No 134 (75)
Suki, 2007). Marital
Employment Status
3. Methodology Employed 28 (16) Married 29 (81)
Unemployed 149 (84) Unmarried 144 (16)
The paper attempts to analyze the mobile
Age Divorced 5 (3)
services usage among the university level students in
two major centers of inhabitation viz. Muscat Less than 20 66 (37) Education
Certificate /
Governorate and Al Batinah region of Oman. A
20-25 92 (51) Diploma 66 (38)
mixed method approach was used to collect data and
Adv.Diploma/
analyze data where observation and informal 26-31 17 (10) Graduation 80 (46)
interview approach with students to arrive at the
More than 31 4 (2) Post Grad. 28 (16)
hypotheses. The hypotheses postulated are mentioned * Mismatches in total represents missing responses
along with the test results later. Questionnaires were ** The figures in parenthesis represent valid percent
administered over 200 respondents using
convenience sampling approach, out of which 179
were found complete. Focused discussions with other Table2 . Descriptive account of Students’ Mobile
students groups were also conducted. The data Usage characteristics
collected using questionnaires were analyzed using
Frequency Cumulative
SPSS 16 software. The reliability of the scale was
Particulars Percent
tested using Cronbach Alpha score, which was found
Connection
somewhat lower (0.5569) than the most widely Preferences
referred score of 0.7 (Nunnally, 1978) However, if 106 (61) 61
Pre paid
alpha is too high, then it may suggest a high level of 69 (39) 100
Post Paid
item redundancy (Streiner and Normal, 1989).
Monthly Expenditure
Less than 10 Rial 60 (34) 34
Between 10-20 Rial 70 (39) 73

957
 Above 20 Rial 48 (27) 100 depend on their parents for payment of bills. Almost
85% of the students have Nokia mobile sets and a
Calls made per day
majority 56% of the students have tendency to
Less than 10 112(62) 62
change handsets at least in a year.
Between 10-20 46(26) 89
Above 20 21 (12) 100 Table 3 produces the results of the testing of
hypotheses performed. Since the convenience
Subscriber of
66 (37) 37 sampling was used for the selection of respondents
Nawras
and normality conditions were not met, we could not
Oman Mobile 69 (38) 75
use one sample t test for testing hypotheses. As in
Both 44 (25) 100 cases in which the data level is ordinal or when
Handset Brand population are not believed to be approximately
Preference normally distributed, the t test is not appropriate and
Nokia 149(85) 85 Wilcoxon signed rank test can be used (Whitley and
Other 26 (15) 100 Ball, 2002; Groebner et al, 2005). Rather, one
Tendency to change sample Wilcoxon Signed Rank test was used to test
Handset the entire hypotheses. Minitab 15 Statistical software
Every six months 25(14) 14 was used to test hypotheses, for SPSS 16 does not
Once a year 75(42) 56 provide the option for one sample Wilcoxon Signed
Not before 2 Years 79(44) 100 Rank Test.

SMS Made per day On the other hand, it was observed that a
Less than 10 58 (32) 32 majority of students disagree that they frequently call
Between 10-20 72 (40) 72 to friends and family, face financial problems in
Above 20 49 (28) 100 paying for mobile services, are happy with the price
of mobile services as opposed to quality,
Bills paid by
65 (36) make/receive SMS while in class, and switched
Self 36
between service providers.
Parents 111(62) 98
Friends 2 (1) 99 Focused group discussion revealed that the most
Company 1 (1) 100 common use of mobile is to make calls, send SMSs
watch videos, listen to music, exchanges of media
** The figures in parenthesis represent valid percent using Bluetooth, as calculator, camera, and dictionary
to translate English words to Arabic. In addition the
car driving students use handsets having GPS system
Table 2 gives the descriptive statistics pertaining for the navigation purposes. Student admitted that
to mobile usage characteristics of sample students. It mobile has become a part and parcel of their lives.
was found that a majority of students ( 61%) prefer to
have prepaid connections. The monthly bills for
almost 66% of respondent is more than 10 Rial (1
Rial = 2.6 USD). A majority (62%) of students make
less than 10 calls per day, however almost 68% of the
students make more than 10 sms per day. The
students does not have any major tilt towards the
subscriber as they are equally distributed among the
two service providers, with some (25%) having
subscription to both the services. A majority (62%)

958
 Table 3. Wilcoxon Sign Rank Test results (Test of Median = 3 Versus Median < 3)

No. Hypotheses (Alternative) N Wilcoxon p Estimated Result

Statistics (α=5%) Median
H1A: The students have higher affinity to buy top end mobile phones. 179 10823.0 0.000 4.000 Accepted
H2 A: The students have higher propensity to show off their mobiles sets. 179 5765.5 0.424 3.000 Rejected
H3 A: The students prefers sending an SMS rather than making calls 178 5483.5 0.250 3.000 Rejected
H4 A: The students expects other to call them rather their calling others 179 6833.5 0.208 3.000 Rejected
H5 A: The students call frequently to friends and family. 179 3133.0 1.000 2.500 Rejected
H6 A: Female students tend to call male friends more than females. 161 2181.0 1.000 2.000 Rejected
H7 A: Male students tend to call female friends more than males. 16 33.5 0.809 2.500 Rejected
H8 A: The students feel uncomfortable without mobile phones. 178 8828.5 0.000 3.500 Accepted
H9 A: The students keep mobile switched on 24 hours. 178 8417.0 0.000 3.500 Accepted

959
H10 A: The monthly expenditure of Students on mobile exceeds what they plan for. 176 3420.5 0.344 3.000 Rejected
H11 A: The students face financial problems in paying for the mobile services. 178 3736.0 0.931 3.000 Rejected
H12 A: The students are happy with the price of mobile services in Oman 177 5306.0 0.654 3.000 Rejected
H13 A: The students are happy with the quality of mobile services in Oman 177 6584.0 0.078 3.000 Rejected
H14 A: The students make use of mobile for educational purposes. 179 4549.0 0.159 3.000 Rejected
H15 A: The students keep mobile phones switched on in the class. 179 6215.0 0.188 3.000 Rejected
H16 A: Students make /receive SMS while in class. 176 4410.0 0.999 2.500 Rejected
H17 A: Students feel that some students use mobile for cheating in exams. 178 5873.0 0.568 3.000 Rejected
H18 A: The students know almost every feature in their mobile. 178 5916.0 0.003 3.500 Accepted
H19 A: The students switch between service providers for services. 173 2020.5 0.944 3.000 Rejected
H20 A: Students plan to buy same brand of mobile in their next purchase. 179 4212.0 0.543 3.000 Rejected
 5. Discussions and implications popularity would soon bring advance usage of
mobile phones a common practice.
The use of mobile phones among youths is
becoming popular day by day in Oman. The The newer mobile technologies are unraveling
advancer features are attracting them more and fast in Oman, where the only two major mobile
more to opt for better models. To some it appears companies Oman Mobile and Nawars have
that mobile is their best friend with which they pass launched 3 G services. The country has yet to
most of their time. Students are getting attention of witness the application of mobile commerce. The
their expertise in dealing with mobile handsets first step has been taken by Oman Mobile by
where peers and elders seek their opinion for some offering parking reservations in capital city Muscat
functions not known. Discussions with student with and payments using mobile phones. The country is
their peer and the fray to grab the latest features doing fairly well in the adoption of smart cards at
mobile and their curiosity to learn various features ROP, Banks and other places. It is just a minor
make them use the mobile for diverse purposes. It initiative on mobile commerce can make its
is evident that the learning secured through adoption very fast. This would change the usage
collective interactions provides them an pattern of mobile phone further.
opportunity of giving a fair trial to most of the
Our observations support that the usage of new
mobile sets and their applications.
technology mobile phones is still low in Oman.
The use of GPS system and chatting is Though the mobile sets with higher capability are
becoming most popular after calls, SMS, present, the applications are still lagging. There is a
photography (still and video) where students are need to find the usage pattern of mobile phones. A
using their mobile phones for. These have not been study on younger generation could be fruitful
much of the use in teaching and learning since because of their affinity to adapt, use, and explore
electronic mode of learning supported by mobiles mobile services. Tweens’ and teenagers’ exposure
is still not popular in Oman. The students use with targeted marketing would definitely affect the
mobiles for dictionary (Arabic to English), understanding of future college age students when
calculator or for storing notes. Some students were they will be more mature and informed about
observed using Bluetooth technology in spreading availability and usage of mobile services. Mobile
and sharing learning materials. co. can identify the best offer that suits to their
customers. At the same time disposal of mobile sets
The mobile charges are falling and so are the may help them to think of buyback policies and
prices of services. This induces the people to have their reselling in lower segments within or across
access to a higher end mobile phone and to have the country like used cars. The study identifies
tried the newer offers or services. It is interesting to these issues to be addressed by future researchers.
find that every student respondent was found to
have access to mobile phone at university. Nokia N Among the major limitation of the study is the
Series products are the most popular among low value of Cronbach Alpha. Further, there are
students. The discussions revealed that students limitations as observed by Verkasalo and
find them simple to use and operate. Further, they Hammainen (2007) for such studies:
yearn for getting a high end model after a year or
“Obtaining knowledge on the usage
so.
of these new functions or services is very
Lembke (2002) argues that combination of difficult. Interviews, laboratory tests,
high penetration of mobile phones and early use of surveys and other such methods provide
smart card technology are likely to be among the inaccurate or subjective data. On the other
earliest markets for m-commerce where the hand, network-based monitoring can only
possibility of handling trusted electronic provide aggregate measures (such as the
transactions by a personal mobile device is one of amount of total packet data transmitted,
the important areas for wireless services market. without knowledge on the application
The penetration of 3G enabled mobile phones and which generated the traffic). With
electronic cards adoption in Oman and their network-based monitoring solutions it is
impossible to obtain any data on handset-

960
 based functions such as application or at
imaging usage.” <http://www.marketresearch.com/product/print/def
ault.asp?g=1&productid=1742453>

Cameron, A (2007), Maxing with the Millennials,

6. Conclusion GPS World, Dec 2007, pp.10.
Creswell, J.W. & Clark V L P, (2006)Designing
and Conducting Mixed Methods Research, Sage
In this digital era, mobile phones and services
Publications (CA), pp. 123.
have acquired substantial growth in the world. In Cronbach, L. J. (1951) Coefficient alpha and the
Middle East, UAE has secured a penetration rate as internal structure of tests, Psychometrika, Vol 16
high has 173 mobiles per inhabitant. At the same No.3, pp. 297-334.
time, Oman is very close to secure 100%
penetration. As a pioneering study of its kind, Global Insight (2008) online report, accessed on
mobile usage behavior of students in Oman was June 19, 2008 online available at <
assessed in this study. It was found that a majority http://www.globalinsight.com/SDA/SDADetail
of students prefer to have prepaid connections, 11744.htm>
spend more than 10 Omani Rials per month on
Groebner D F, Shannon PW, Fry P C , Smith K D
services, make less than 10 calls but more than 10 (2005), Business Statistics: a decision making
sms per day, and depend on their parents for approach, Ed. 6, Prentice Hall: New Jersey.
payment of bills. Nokia is the most popular handset
brand among students and they tend to change Herman, S (2007), SMS reference: keeping up with
handsets at least in a year. It was significantly your clients, The Electronic Library, Vol. 25 No. 4,
tested true that students have higher affinity to buy 2007 , pp. 401-408
top end mobile phones, they feel uncomfortable
ITU (2006), ITU world telecommunication
without mobile phones, they keep their mobile indicators database accessed on June 20, 2008
phone switched on 24 hours, and they are equipped online available at http://www.itu.int/ITU-
with almost every feature in their mobile. Overall D/ict/statistis/ at_glance/KeyTelecom99.html
the outcomes of the study could help marketers in
offering better product and services to customers Karim,NSA, Darus, S H and Hussin R (2006)
and highlight a need for studying usage behavior of Mobile phone applications in academic library
services: a students’ feedback survey, Campus-
tweens and teens and issue of mobile commerce, Wide Information Systems, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 35-
mobile learning, and mobile disposal. 51

7. References: Lembke, J (2002), Mobile commerce and the

creation of a marketplace, Info, Vol 4 No 3, pp. 50-
Andersen L P, Tufte B, Rasmussen F, and Chan, K 56.
(2007), Tweens and new media in Denmark and
Hong Kong, Journal of Consumer Marketing , Vol Liao C H, Tsou C W, and Huang M F (2007),
24 No 6 ,pp. 340–350 Factors influencing the usage of 3G mobile
services in Taiwan, Online Information Review,
Amin, H (2007), An analysis of mobile credit card Vol. 31 No. 6, pp. 759-774
usage intentions, Information Management &
Computer Security, Vol. 15 No. 4, pp. 260-269 Ministry of National Economy (2006), Sultanate of
Oman, Statistical Year Book, Issue 34, October
Armitt, C. (2005), Mobile data services are most 2006.
popular among the under-24s, New Media Age,
dated 01-09-05, pp. 9. (Source Ebsco Host) Munnukka, J (2005),Dynamics of price sensitivity
among mobile service customers, Journal of
Boote J. and Mathews A. (1999), “Saying is one Product & Brand Management, Vo 14 No 1 , pp.
thing; doing is another”: the role of observation in 65–73
marketing research, Qualitative Market Research:
An International Journal, Vol 2 No 1 , pp. 15–21 Munnukka, J (2007), Characteristics of early
adopters in mobile communications markets,
Business Monitor International (2008) summary
report accessed on June 19, 2008 online available

961
Marketing Intelligence & Planning, Vol. 25 No. 7, Telecommunications Reports (2008) , Vol 74 No 1
pp. 719-731 pp.28. accessed online on 12 June 2008 <
www.tr.com>
Nielsen report (2008), Want to Reach 'Tweens?
Use a Cell Phone. Convenience Store News, The Financial Express, 2006, “Growth in SMS
01948733, 1/14/2008, Vol. 44, Issue 1 Database: markets brings cheer to VAS players”, posted
Business Source Premier 22.06.2006 available online at <
http://www.financialexpress.com/news/growth-in-
Nicola Green, N (2002), On the Move: sms-market-brings-cheer-to-vas-players/163865/>
Technology, Mobility, and the Mediation of Social accessed 05.02.2009.
Time and Space, The Information Society, Vol 18,
pp. 281–292. Thorngren B, Andersson P, Bohlin, E & Boman, M
(2004), Seamless mobility: more than it seems,
Nunnally, JC. (1978) Psychometric theory, New Info, Volume 6 · Number 3 · 2004 · pp. 169-171
York: McGraw-Hill.
UNDP(1999), Human Development Report 1999,
Olatokun, M W and Bodunwa, I O, GSM usage at UNDP/ Oxford University Press, New York, NY.
the University of Ibadan, The Electronic Library,
Vol. 24 No. 4, 2006, pp. 530-547 Verkasalo H & Hammainen H (2007),Info , VOL.
9 NO. 1 2007, pp. 80-96.
Petroff, P (2002), Teens want Everything but at
what price?, Wireless Week, dated 22.04.02, pp. 3. Whitley E and Ball, J (2002), Statistics review 6:
(Source: Ebsco Host) Nonparametric methods, Critical Care, Vol 6 No 6,
pp-509-513. also available online at
Ruane J. M. (2004), Essentials of Research <http://ccforum.com/content/6/6/509>
methods, A Guide to Social Science Research,
Blackwell Publishing, pp. 169.

Sigala (2006) argues that usage extend to

personalise ring tones, phone interface and style,
screen savers, information, SMS alerts, address
books, pictures albums and MMS with the
advances in internet tools and mobile phones.

Sigala, M (2006), Mass customization

implementation models and customer value in
mobile phones services Preliminary findings from
Greece, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 16 No. 4,
2006

Suki N M, Suki N M, Mobile phone usage for m-

learning: comparing heavy and light mobile phone
users, Campus-Wide Information Systems, Vol. 24
No. 5, 2007, pp. 355-365

Srivastava L (2004),Japan’s ubiquitous mobile

information society, Info, Vol 14 No 4, pp. 234-
251

Streiner DL, Norman GR (1989), Health

Measurement Scales A Practical Guide to Their
Development and Use, New York: Oxford
University Press, Inc.

962