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Women pick the family's mobile tech - and pay for it too

Sit down chaps, it's nothing for you to worry your little heads about

American women are increasingly selecting their families' mobile tech, and paying the bills too, according to the latest figures from US wireless trade body CTIA.

The company asked just over 1,000 women within families who was calling the wireless shots. Around 94 per cent told the CTIA they were "primarily responsible or involved" in picking tariffs, and almost three-quarters of them are paying the bills too. But it's OK 'cos almost half of them think better wireless technology helps families spend more time together.

All of which is music to the ears of the CTIA, which can use the statistics to reassure parents that outfitting the ankle-biters with mobile technology can only lead to a family which feels closer together when apart (as 85 per cent of the women attested).

Of more interest to the industry will be the fact that it's internet access these women are looking for in a mobile service, followed by email and text messaging. Making phone calls doesn't even appear on the list, though as half of the respondents claim their mobiles are replacing land lines it seems that functionality is assumed.

Before the days of Wi-Fi and Facebooking, in a nuclear family it was the wife who took responsibility for paying the regular bills, between feeding children and keeping house while her besuited (and, quite possibly, pipe-smoking) husband was out earning the daily bread. Given the ubiquity of wireless it shouldn't really be surprising that women are paying for it.

The CTIA's concern is that its members are still advertising to the "man of the house", while it seems that it's often the woman who is making the purchasing decisions. ®

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