An Empirical Study of Consumer Behavior in the Cuban Mobile Phone Market

The adoption of mobile phones in most countries has been exceptionally rapid over the last three decades. In response to this new wave in technology, Cuban government under Raul Castro has made it clear that he will be reducing the size of Cuban state expenditure in favor of private participation in the economy, the genuine liberalization of Cuba’s telecom sector is expected to be hampered quickly over the coming years. This exploratory study therefore attempts to examine consumer behavior in new mobile phone markets. The study surveyed 315 Cuban consumers to identify their motives for purchasing new mobile phones on one hand, and factors affecting operator choice on the other. The results indicate that price and properties were the most influential factors affecting the purchase of a new mobile phone whereas price, availability and friends’ operator were regarded as the most important in the choice of the mobile phone operator.