• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, September 11, 2006

According to Telephia's Customer Value Metrics (CVM) service, measuring 30,000 mobile phone users, the average monthly cell phone bill for business users is nearly $80, as compared to about $65 for personal users. Business users average 949 minutes on their phones, 23 percent higher than the average for personal users.

Though business users subscribe to more expensive voice and data plans, part of their higher spend is also driven by higher incidence of discretionary items like overage and 411 directory calls. The typical overage charge for business users is nearly $56, while the typical 411 charge is almost $4.

Tamara Gaffney, Telephia's Director of Product Management, notes that "Business users are a particularly attractive segment for mobile carriers because they buy larger packages and are less price sensitive to transactional fees like overage and 411.

In addition, Telephia finds that owners of Bluetooth wireless headsets have very high mobile phone usage. The average monthly bill for a Bluetooth headset owner is $85, nearly 27 percent higher than the average monthly spending for non-Bluetooth owners. Business users who own Bluetooth headsets spend even more per month, with an average monthly bill of nearly $100 with an average usage of 1,113 minutes each month.

Gaffney added that "...It's also likely that the added comfort and fidelity of these headsets is encouraging even higher levels of use."

More from Telephia may be found here.