International Journal of Computer Theory and Engineering

Abstract

3G mobile services are new in Botswana and were launched during 2008. This study focused on Botswana’s users’ usage pattern, awareness and adoption of 3G mobile services amongst university students. A structured questionnaire was administered and the results (n=66) indicate high (98%) saturation level in terms of usage of mobile phones compared to several countries while the 3G mobile service usage rate was found to be low (8%) in comparison to other parts of the world. While the perception of respondents towards its usage, ease of use and intention to use was highly motivating, the respondents reported that they would not be influenced by peer usage. In addition, they were found to be sensitive to price and were not willing to use 3G service if they were expensive. The study also found that security of 3G services and usefulness of the service was the dominating factors in the adoption of these services in Botswana. TV and friends were the dominating awareness media for 3G related information. The findings have future implications for the marketing strategy by the operators and security aspects of 3G mobile services in Botswana. The paper also discusses the future direction of research.