Consumer preference for new wireless data services

Abstract

An analytic hierarchy process (AHP) procedure was used to derive relative weights for decision criteria and relative preferences for emerging Korean mobile services. The respondents are encouraged to reveal their subscription intentions for new mobile services by comparing pairs of elements by decision criteria. A measure of response inconsistency is applied to obtain relative weights by decision element using the eigenvalue method in order to improve the consistency of respondents judgments. Results from the analysis indicate that the economic costs associated with new mobile service use are perceived more important to subscription than any corresponding benefits. The monthly charge is more important among cost features and transmission speed and service coverage are the more important features among use benefits. The transmission speed which is relatively slow must be improved to successfully introduce portable Internet service (PIS) service.