Analyzing Educational and Social Usage of Mobile Telecommunications in a South African University Omotayo Kayode Abatan School of Computing University of South Africa Johannesburg, South Africa tayoteminikan@yahoo.com Manoj Maharaj Discipline of Information Systems and Technology University of KwaZulu-Natal Westville, South Africa maharajms@ukzn.ac.za Abstract— Young people are fascinated by new information and communication technologies. This is evident in the attraction to social networks and new modes of communication offered by mobile telecommunication networks. Beyond communicating with others, new generation mobile phones enable users to perform an assortment of tasks which were hitherto inconceivable. The youth use mobile technology to create and maintain social interactions while also relying on it for educational purposes. This paper, based on empirical research, examines the educational and social uses of mobile telecommunication services by first-year Information Technology (IT) students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The study provides insight into the usage of mobile telecommunication services for different academic and social activities from students’ perceptions. The study identifies some factors that influence the adoption and usage of mobile phones in education. Students’ use of mobile telecommunications services is analyzed using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the theory of planned behaviour. Keywords– academic activities; social activities; mobile telecomunication services; fist-year IT students; UKZN; TAM I. INTRODUCTION Advances in technology and changes in the social and political spheres have had a great effect on telecommunications [1]. Telecommunications encapsulate voice, video and internet communication services. Modern telecommunication services consist of, but not limited to, voice communication, video streaming, graphics and television services at high speed. Technological advances have enabled telecommunication users to exchange data using cell phones, laptops and other telecommunication devices like Universal Serial Bus (USB) Modems or data cards at affordable rates. The word telecommunication is a combination of two words: tele and communication. The Greek word tele means over a distance. Communication simply means the sharing of information or messages between two or more entities [2]. The addition of the prefix tele to communication gives telecommunication, which simply put, refers to communication over or across distance. Telecommunication services always improve in their quality of connectivity as technology advances. For instance, wireless transmission (which represents advancement in information sharing) offers many advantages over wire-bound transmission [3]. In a different context, mobile telecommunication providers are deploying new technologies that allow users to replace the conventional landline with mobile telephones. In the present global age research work in the area of telecommunication is increasing. This study adopts a problem- solution oriented approach to the analysis of first-year IT students’ use of mobile telecommunication services at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), Durban, South Africa. Mobile telecommunication service is a technology that has been accepted by people [4]. All users require a level of quality of their mobile telecommunication service at a competitive price. If the service charges are too high, it is easy for users to switch to network providers with lower service charges and quality that they require. This is one major problem in the adoption and usage of mobile telecommunications. The use of mobile telecommunication services is important to network providers; it keeps them in business. Without good standards of quality and the provision of services that meet users’ expectations, network providers will lose users. Services that are provided must not only enable users to meet certain needs but also guarantee affordability on the part of the target market. This assumption holds true for students in South Africa, and elsewhere. This study draws from students’ articulation of the use of mobile telecommunications services across mobile telecommunication networks in South Africa. Students’ narratives of their use of mobile telecommunication services for academic and social activities foreground the importance of these services in students’ lives. Therefore, the research questions are broken down into two-folds: 1) What are the perceptions of first-year IT students at UKZN vis-à-vis mobile telecommunication services in Durban? 2) What factors influence the quality of mobile telecommunication services in Durban? In what follows, this paper discusses the models that serve as the theoretical anchors for the study. It then presents the research method, including the mode of data collection and analysis. Next, the paper gives a brief profile of the telecommunications sector in South Africa. A general discussion of students’ use of mobile telecommunications International Conference on Information Society (i-Society 2014) 978-1-908320-38/4/$25.00©2014 IEEE 64