Extensive study across 16 cities in India reveals the digital lives of kids (9-11 years), tweens (12-15 years) and teens (16-18 years) in India, a group called Generation Z Around 30 million of 69 million urban Generation Z consumers own mobile phones, and 3 million of these use mobile broadband on their phones Kids explore new technology and use the mobile phone in the same way as their older counterparts Parents using mobile broadband are more likely to introduce their children to the technology. For more reports from the ConsumerLab visit: http://www.ericsson.com/thinkingahead/consumerlab

1. Generation Z
Understanding the digital lives
of India’s young mobile users
consumerlab
An Ericsson Consumer Insight Summary Report
October 2012

2. 2 ERICSSON CONSUMERLAB GENERATION Z
Ericsson ConsumerLab has more than 15 years’ experience
of studying people’s behaviors and values, including the way
they act and think about ICT products and services. Ericsson
ConsumerLab provides unique insights on market and
consumer trends.
Ericsson ConsumerLab gains its knowledge through a
global consumer research program based on interviews with
100,000 individuals each year, in more than 40 countries
and 15 megacities – statistically representing the views of
1.1 billion people.
Both quantitative and qualitative methods are
used, and hundreds of hours are spent with consumers
from different cultures.
To be close to the market and consumers, Ericsson
ConsumerLab has analysts in all regions where Ericsson is
present, which gives a thorough global understanding of the
ICT market and business models.
All ConsumerLab reports can be found at:
www.ericsson.com/consumerlab
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the voice of the consumer
METHODOLODY
AND COVERAGE
Qualitative module
> 24 in-depth interviews
with 9-18 year old girls
and boys
> 4 focus groups with parents
> Spread across four centers:
Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore
and Hyderabad
Quantitative module
> 7,785 urban
households contacted
> 3,421 face-to-face interviews
with 9-18 year old mobile
phone users across
16 cities in India
1,000 face-to-face interviews
with parents
2,000 face-to-face interviews
with 9-18 year old mobile
internet users.
Permission of a parent, guardian or other person on whom the parent has conferred
responsibility for the child was obtained before the child was approached for an
interview. Parents were present during the interviews with 9-11 year olds.
chandigarh
KOLKATA
LUCKNOW
KOTA
UJJAIN
ahmedabad
MUMBAI
PUNE
HYDERABAD
BELGAUM
bangalore
CUTTACK
guwahati
PATNA
DELHI
CHENNAI

3. According to industry estimates, India has roughly
200 million children under the age of 18, and 69
million of them reside in urban areas. These young
people have a very different childhood to the one their
parents experienced. According to this ConsumerLab
study, 40% of urban children from metropolitan towns
regularly dine out at expensive restaurants and 23 percent
use their parents’ credit cards to buy new things.
This is Generation Z. Different sources define
Generation Z according to varying dates, but for the
purpose of this report we will define them as those
who were born between 1994 and 2004. For many of
them life is all about shopping, seeking comfort and
materialism. They are both ambitious and competitive
in nature.
While Generations X andY (those born between
1965 and 1979, and 1980 and 1995, respectively)
have watched the digital revolution unfold before their
eyes, Generation Z has never known anything else.
It is therefore surprising that Generation Z is often
overlooked in communications research reports.
This report uncovers the very specific needs of this
Generation and finds that most 9-11 year olds are
highly likely to explore new technology – in fact by the
time they are 18, it is already a major part of their lives.
ERICSSON CONSUMERLAB GENERATION Z 3
GENERATION Z
India’s young
digital natives
Key findings
Connectivity forms part of
Generation Z’s digital lives
from an early age –
mobile phones are
indispensable among
Generation Z. 30 million
personally own a handset
and 11 million share one with
other household members.
Kids and tweens are
beginning to mirror their
older counterparts’ usage –
21 percent of kids and
tweens show usage patterns
similar to 16-18 year olds.
Family dynamics need to be
considered when it comes to
mobile broadband – parents
using mobile broadband are
more likely to introduce
their children to the
technology earlier.
Parents wish to have more
control – they would like
mutually beneficial plans
and services that enable
security, monitoring and
control of their children’s
communication activities.
Generation Z understands
what constitutes a good
mobile experience – factors
such as network availability,
competitive tariffs, service
support and mobile internet
speeds have a positive effect
on how they perceive
telecom services.
Young people want to be
engaged through a social
form of customer care –
Generation Z turns to social
media first to complain or
share a bad experience.

4. Generation Z owns more gadgets than an entire
family would have a generation ago, with 2 in 5 of
those studied having more than five devices in their
bedroom. What’s more, kids today are spending a
greater amount of time on these devices. Figure 2
shows that Generation Z spends half of its waking
life using mobile phones, watchingTV and gaming.
The amount of time which Generation Z spends using
mobile phones per day has already begun to overtake
the amount of time they spend watchingTV. In fact,
children are more likely to use mobile phones before
school than watchTV. 58 percent of Generation Z
is now willing to give up watchingTV to use internet
on a mobile phone.
Adoption of smartphones is also increasing within
this age group, with 7 percent of Generation Z
owning a smartphone today. Of these, 20 percent
are under 11 years of age.
Phone or no phone?
4 ERICSSON CONSUMERLAB GENERATION Z
Figure 1: Ownership of mobile phones among 9-18 year olds
Figure 1 shows mobile phone ownership amongst
the 69 million 9-18 year olds in Indian urban areas.
It shows that 39 million do not yet personally own a
mobile phone. Of these, 28 million have no access to
a handset at all.The remaining 11 million do
have access, but share mobile phones owned
by parents or older siblings.
Today, the age at which children in India own a
mobile phone is dropping, with some now acquiring
handsets as young as aged 6. Over half of parents
in urban metropolitan cities say that they are open
to providing children aged 9-11 with a mobile phone,
and more say they could not stop them from getting
one whether they allowed it or not.
Pocket money in India is increasing and the average
monthly allowance for children aged 9-18 in urban
areas is INR 2,253. However, some teenagers get
significantly more, with 1 in 4 of the upper quartile
receiving up to INR 4,000. Of this allowance, eight
percent is spent on mobile phone-related costs,
while four percent goes on gadgets.
26%
Figure 2: Average time spent on
activities daily (hours, minutes)
Figure 3: Share of total internet time spent on mobile phones
over other devices
28 million
have no access to mobile phones
30 million
own mobile phones
11 million
share mobile phones
Spend 90-100% of
their internet time
on mobile phones
100%
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
on my mobile
phone and 0%
on other devices
on my mobile
phone and 50%
on other devices
1:31CONSOLE GAMES
MOBILE PHONEs
INTERNET (MOBILE PHONE/PC)
WATCH TV
OUTDOOR PLAY
OUTSIDE WITH FRIENDS
INDOOR PLAY
STUDY/HOMEWORK
TUITIONS/CLASSES
TIME WITH FAMILY
1:32
2:18
2:20
1:09
1:32
1:36
2:13
2:20
3:20
Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Generation Z 2012.
Base: 9-18 year old mobile phone users in urban India.
Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Generation Z 2012.
Base: 9-18 year old mobile phone users in urban India.
Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Generation Z 2012.
Study Base: 9-18 year old children in urban India.

5. Figure 3 shows the amount of internet time Generation
Z spends across all devices. For 26 percent, almost all
of their internet time is on the mobile phone. While it’s
believed that small towns will drive mobile-only internet
usage, Figure 4 indicates that megacities such as Delhi,
Bangalore and Mumbai collectively share 45 percent
of all Generation Z mobile-only internet users. Children
are acquiring phones quicker than they are getting PCs
or laptops – while 79 percent of children in the survey
personally own mobile phones, only 10 percent have PCs
at home. With PCs often located in a common room, the
need for personal connectivity away from the watchful
eyes of parents is what makes mobile phones the
preferred means to access the internet.
Younger kids mirror teens
Even the youngest members of Generation Z show
advanced behavior in their internet use.Teens are
most likely to explore new services and use them more
frequently. However, a growing number of kids and
tweens are setting the trend amongst their peers and
mirroring their older counterparts’ usage. In fact, kids
and tweens are more likely than teens to stream videos
onYouTube at least once a week.
These explorative kids are now getting onto Facebook at
an earlier age. 80 percent of 9-11 year olds involved in this
study are already on social networking sites, whereas many
teenagers said that they had signed up to social media later,
at around 12 years of age. A majority of these kids were not
even aware of any age limitations to sign up on Facebook.
9-11 year old kids now spend 1 hour 7 minutes daily on
Facebook, of which 40 minutes are spent on a mobile
phone.They are also moving beyond social media and
chat, with some downloading apps and using maps and
navigation. A small number have even begun to check
out shopping deals via mobile phones.
Mobile devices have become an important utility for parents,
who have started to use their phones to entertain their
children. A growing number of parents are exposing kids
to apps at an early age. 26 percent of those studied were
downloading a phone app for their kids at least weekly.
Younger parents are more likely to display such behavior.
When it comes to chat and social media, those members
of Generation Z who hail from small towns are now
starting to catch up with the mobile internet usage seen
in metropolitan cities. However, usage of more advanced
services such as apps, maps and navigation,Twitter and
online shopping is being driven by Generation Z mobile
internet users from the bigger cities.
Mobile broadband take-up influenced by family
Broadband usage behavior develops at a young age
and is influenced by family members.Those children in
households where parents use mobile broadband are
more likely to use it themselves from a young age.
3 million Indian mobile broadband users are under 18.
A further 3 million of Generation Z in urban areas own
3G-capable handsets but have not activated the service.
However, there is strong interest in mobile broadband,
with 35 percent of those that do not have the technology
claiming that they will switch to it in the next 3 months.
Of these, most are likely to be teens from the top four
cities across India.
ERICSSON CONSUMERLAB GENERATION Z 5
3 million Indian mobile broadband
users are under 18. A further 3 million
of Generation Z in urban areas own
3G-capable handsets but have not
activated the service.
Delhi
BangaloreM
um
bai
KotaC
uttackLucknow
PuneC
hennai
U
jjainBelgaum
Ahm
edabadKolkata
H
yderabad
C
handigarh
PatnaG
uw
ahati
12%
10%
23%
7% 7% 6% 6% 6% 5% 5% 4% 3% 3%
1% 1% 1%
Figure 4: Share of mobile-only internet users among 9-18 year olds
Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Generation Z 2012.
Base: 9-18 year old urban mobile-only internet users in India.

6. Many parents set ground rules for their children’s
device usage, such as a mobile phone curfew,
allowing themselves access to their kid’s phones
and ensuring that factors such as sleep and
homework come before online socialization.
However, in this new digital age, ensuring adherence
to these ground rules is a challenge, especially as
parents simply do not have time to monitor and
engage with kids across all communication mediums.
Only one third of parents are able to keep track of their
children’s communications activities. Even fewer claim
to regularly check browser history.To further compound
this lack of control, many children know how to hide
their online activities from their parents.
A growing number of parents monitor their children’s
SMS conversations but 30 percent of 9-18 year olds
use a privacy screen to prevent others from seeing
their phone. When asked whether they would be willing
to have their mobile usage monitored, half of kids
agreed that they would be willing to install a mobile app
enabling their parents to do this.Those members of
Generation Z from big metropolitan cities were
more against such monitoring.
Figure 5 shows which services parents require in
order to manage and monitor their children’s
mobile and internet usage.
In order to keep up with the generation gap, parents
are becoming more savvy in mobile media. Nearly
half of parents interviewed said that they follow new
products on the market, so they understand the
technology their children use.
The needs of Generation Z
In the qualitative part of the study, children highlighted
signal bars as a way of understanding what they could
and could not do.They understood, for example, that
signal bars are related to dropped calls or the ability
to send SMS. Other factors that influence how they
perceive telecom services include competitive tariffs,
service and support and mobile internet speeds, rather
than branding and advertising or freebies. Figure 6
shows the importance of some of these factors.
PARENTS WISH TO
SEEK MORE CONTROL
6 ERICSSON CONSUMERLAB GENERATION Z
58%
63%
62%
59%
56%
76%
60%
60%
66%
71%
59%
55%
Device with mobile learning material
Mobile internet webguard app
Enable/disable mobile internet
Remote phone locking
Spend control
Call/message log details
Usage time tracker
New contacts viewer
Phone locator
Premium handset insurance
Safe driving app
Smartphone antivirus package
Figure 5: Services that parents expect from service providers
Relatively more important
Relatively less important
Network AVAILABILITY
competitive Tariffs
Faster Mobile Internet Speeds
Customer Service
Free SMS bundles or
app downloads
Rewards and Loyalty programs
Branding and Advertising
Figure 6: What Generation Z considers important
Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Generation Z 2012.
Base: Urban Indian parents of 9-18 year olds.
Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Generation Z 2012.
Base: 9-18 year old mobile phone users in urban India.

7. Only one in five of Generation Z has changed operator
since they first got a mobile phone.This suggests high
brand loyalty in the group. 64 percent say they would
recommend their service provider. However, this leaves
32 percent that are indifferent and the remainder are
just not satisfied with their operators.
Figure 7 breaks Generation Z down into life stages
and shows that each group has very specific needs.
Generation Z wants social media to evolve
There is a growing demand among Generation Z
for greater integration of customer care with social
networks. Doing this will require a new type of
service – a kind of social customer care. Most already
go online to seek recommendations before
buying a new service or plan.
A majority go online to voice their opinions, while 77
percent use social networking specifically for venting
their frustration about poor service.This leads them to
expect an instant resolution of their issues and queries
and constant feedback via social media.
As part of social customer care, Generation Z
would like to be able to use social media to:
Track grievances and receive prompt
customer service
Give feedback and suggestions on services
Gain loyalty rewards
Find out about new services and plans
Preparing for the future
Generation Z’s needs cannot be ignored
– these people are tomorrow’s adults and
their communication patterns are indicative
of future demands.
As Generation Z grow up and their behavior
becomes commonplace, new technologies will
emerge that will further advance social interaction
and enable our lives to be connected in new
and exciting ways. By studying their behavior, we
not only understand the needs of this generation,
but also the needs of tomorrow.
ERICSSON CONSUMERLAB GENERATION Z 7
Figure 7: The needs of Generation Z by age group
Network availability
Customized info on new
plans and services via
SMS or calls
Easy access to
customer service
9Yrs 10yrs 11yrs 12yrs 13yrs 14yrs 15yrs 16yrs 17yrs 18yrs
KIDS TWEENS TEENS
Stable and reliable
mobile internet connection
Innovative talk time plans
Easy activation/deactivation
of services
Responsive and
competent customer care
Transparent billing/charging
Network coverage/quality
Generation Z WANTS
Source: Ericsson ConsumerLab Generation Z 2012.
Base: 9-18 year old mobile phone users in urban India.

8. EAB-12:059690 Uen
© Ericsson AB 2012
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