Hot on the heels of data from the Omnicom Media Group showing big increases in France's mobile device usage comes more evidence of the same trend in a report co-published by France's electronic and postal communications watchdog and a finance ministry agency, reports eMarketer.
For the first time, household penetration of mobile phones in France exceeded that of fixed telephones found a study based on face-to-face interviews with 2,209 consumers aged 12 and older in June 2015 and published in yearly review Baromètre du Numérique: Édition 2015, edited by the Autorité de Régulation des communications électroniques et des Postes (ARCEP) and the Conseil général de l'économie, de l'industrie, de l'énergie et des technologies (CGEIET).
ARCEP found that 92% of respondents had at least one mobile phone in their home, compared with 89% who had a fixed line. More than half (58%) had a smartphone and 35% had a tablet.
The share of consumers aged 12 and older who used a mobile phone to access the internet rose from 43% to 52%, and the proportion who read email on their phone also jumped nine percentage points, to 45%.
Mobile devices are now widespread among all age groups. At least 92% of consumers ages 12 to 69 had a mobile phone; among seniors ages 70 and up, that share was 71%. Admittedly, smartphones are a different matter. While nine in 10 young adults ages 18 to 24 had an advanced handset, just 35% of respondents ages 60 to 69 said the same. And households of three or more people were far more likely to have a smartphone than homes with one or two residents.
The sharpest divides exist among mobile internet users. National penetration averaged 52% in June, but 18- to-24-year-olds were more than three times as likely to go online with their phones as residents in their 60s.