Mobile Marketing Magazine

Adaptive Issues Update Data Cost Advice

With Microsoft issuing its monthly set of Windows patch updates yesterday, and Adobe and Oracle both releasing new security updates, mobile security firm AdaptiveMobile is warning Smartphone and 3G dongle users to be wary of the unexpected data costs associated with background software updates, particularly when using data roaming.
“The way we are accessing and using the web is evolving fast, with more and more consumers and business users accessing the web on the move via a mobile handset or with a 3G dongle,” says AdaptiveMobile COO, Gareth Maclachlan. “Unfortunately this shift towards a reliance on mobile data means users must also become increasingly aware of how their data allowance is being used and which online activities are causing unforeseen data costs to build up automatically.
“As data usage has sky-rocketed over the past three years, bill shock has been a hotly discussed issue in the media. However, despite awareness of the risks increasing, we are seeing time and again that consumers are still being hit by huge data bills – most of which can be avoided. One of the biggest culprits we see is automatic software updates. For example, a set of Window’s patch updates can be upwards of 40MB in size, iTunes updates are around 100MB and Apple’s latest OS update runs at over 700MB, all of which seriously drain data allowances and can lead to substantial costs for consumers.
AdaptiveMobile notes that there are some simple steps that consumers can take to avoid unexpected data costs. If users switch their updates to ‘alert’, rather than allowing automatic background updates, software downloads can be delayed until a later time when the user’s device is connected via wi-fi or fixed broadband. Similarly, for enterprise travellers who may be racking up huge bills through data-roaming, IT managers can liaise with their mobile operator to set specific network-level controls, avoiding the headache of coordinating individual controls on each employee’s handset or mobile broadband-enabled laptop. Forward-thinking mobile operators are now providing web-based self-care for consumer and corporate subscribers, ensuring that mobile access is used for valued activity, and not for hidden updates.
“The recent Europe-wide ruling on data charges also means that users can now ask their network providers to cut them off after they reach a predetermined amount on their bill and while this is certainly a step in the right direction, it can be counterproductive if a user is blocked from sending that important time-critical email to their customer just because their laptop has decided to update Windows,” says Maclachlan. However, if users are to avoid the pain of unexpected data costs - both in the UK and abroad - they absolutely must get data-savvy and ask their operator for the tools to take charge of their data usage.”

Frost Predicts Mobile Broadband Boom in Central & Eastern Europe

Economic recession and restrictive market regulators’ policies, especially in terms of mobile termination rate (MTR) cuts, have been the most negative factors affecting the mobile telecommunications market in the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) region. Mobile telecom operators facing revenue decline from traditional mobile services have started to focus more on mobile broadband development. Although CEE markets differ considerably in terms of mobile broadband penetration, technologies, and network coverage, the common point would be significant market growth expected within the next five years.
That’s the conclusion of new analysis from Frost & Sullivan, ‘Mobile Broadband in Central and Eastern Europe’, which notes that the market earned revenues of €1.1 billion (£716 million) in 2009, and forecasts this to reach €5.2 billion in 2014. The service penetration is expected to grow from 2% to 10% within the forecast period. 
“Due to relatively low overall broadband penetration, mobile broadband will be a complementary rather than supplementary service to fixed broadband in CEE countries,” says Frost & Sullivan ICT Research Analyst, Edyta Kosowska. “Therefore, mobile broadband operators should initially focus on improving the service quality through sufficient network upgrades, as customers expect the same download speed and data download limits as from fixed broadband Internet. Only when (that has been) achieved, (should) the operators should follow Western European players’ strategies and concentrate on developing (a) wider range of value-added services (VAS).”
The Frost & Sullivan study assesses the status of mobile broadband in five CEE key markets: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Russia and Slovakia. The analysis is based on key performance indicators, and looks at the way that different mobile broadband technologies are evolving in those markets. The technologies considered are: code division multiple access (CDMA) revision A and revision B; flash orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (Flash OFDM); high speed downlink packet access (HSDPA); high speed packet access plus (HSPA+); mobile worldwide interoperability for microwave access (Mobile WiMAX); and long-term evolution (LTE).
“Most of the market participants start mobile broadband service development from large cities’ centres, where they can count on relatively quick return on investment,” says Kosowska. This move is still economically justified, as the highest demand comes from people with increased mobility needs, such as company workers and students. However, in the near future, growth potential will be mainly visible within rural areas, where overall broadband penetration remains relatively low. Therefore, focusing on this target group can be a worthwhile consideration.”
To find out more about the study, send an e-mail to [email protected] with your full name, company name, title and contact details.

Birmingham Kids Benefit from Mobile Broadband Initiative

Schoolchildren in Birmingham who don’t have landlines at home are benefiting from free web access to learning programmes and education resources thanks to a join initiative from Vodafone UK and Birmingham City Council.
The two organisations are working together to loan laptops to over 450 children, including mobile broadband Internet. As part of the project, Vodafone has also implemented its Vodafone Secure Remote Access service, so that the programme can be extended safely to participating families, without compromising the security of the Council’s network, data or hardware.
Councillor Les Lawrence, Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Families at Birmingham City Council says: “This is a highly flexible and cost effective way for us to provide some of the most disadvantaged homes in the region with mobile broadband access and make sure that the children have every opportunity to improve their education.”
The programme, funded by Government agency Becta, is also benefitting parents in the families by giving them the opportunity to develop their ICT skills alongside their children and contribute to their education. Many of the parents have also been able to look at online reports provided on their child’s progress for the first time.
Vodafone UK recently revealed that its Vodafone Secure Remote Access solution has been awarded the CESG Claims Tested Mark (CCTM) quality mark by CESG, the information assurance arm of GCHQ.  Vodafone is the first UK mobile operator to receive the CCTM mark, which verifies the claims companies make for their security solutions for data confidentiality, integrity and availability in the modern public sector IT environment. 

Virgin Launches Data Roaming Passes

Virgin Media has launched a range of new ‘Travel Passes’, which it says offer great value for money for customers using the mobile Internet and mobile broadband to surf anywhere in the EU. The passes start at £6 for mobile Internet access all day or £10 for mobile broadband access.
There are two mobile Internet Travel Passes. A 1-hour Travel Pass costs £4, with a 3MB limit, while a 24-hour Travel Pass costs £6, with a 5MB data cap. To activate a mobile internet EU Travel Pass, customers simply text BUY + pass name (e.g. 24HR or 1HR) to a Shortcode 23456.
There are four mobile broadband EU Travel Passes, which allow customers to access data for one day (£10 for 10MB); three days (£15 for 15MB); seven days (£30 for 30MB); and 30 days (£60 for 60MB). To activate a mobile broadband pass, text BUY + pass name (e.g. 1DAY or 3DAY) to 23456.
All passes are effective from the time they are bought, and applicable to the EU/EEA zone.

Operators Get Behind Mobile Broadband

Mobile operators around the world will invest up to $72 billion (£46 billion) in Mobile Broadband technologies in 2010, according to data from the GSM Association (GSMA). The GSMA says that the new operator CAPEX investment data, compiled by global investment firm Deutsche Bank, reflects the continued consumer and enterprise demand for Mobile Broadband services and the need for underlying infrastructure, and comes as global HSPA connections reach the 200 million milestone. Deutsche Bank’s forecast covers spend on technologies including HSPA/HSPA+, WCDMA and EVDO/CDMA.
Asia Pacific will see the greatest investment in Mobile Broadband, with predicted capital expenditure of up to $34 billion. North America follows with up to $19 billion, with Europe expected to invest up to $14 billion. Mobile Broadband is set to account for 52% of all operator investment in mobile infrastructure globally. Of all the regions, North America will spend the greatest percentage - 80% - of its total mobile CAPEX investment on Mobile Broadband.
“The forecasted investment in Mobile Broadband technologies reflects the importance the mobile industry places on enabling consumers to access any type of content on the move – whatever they want, whenever they want, wherever they want,” says GSMA Chief Marketing Officer, Michael O’Hara. “HSPA and HSPA+ have become the dominant global Mobile Broadband technologies, and are set to benefit from a significant proportion of this CAPEX investment, resulting in faster and more reliable Mobile Broadband services being available to more subscribers around the world by the end of this year.”
HSPA connections have seen phenomenal growth in all markets since 2007, and the GSMA says this is set to continue in 2010, with the investment operators will make in Mobile Broadband technology. According to industry research firm Wireless Intelligence, the growth of HSPA is predicted to increase from an average of around 9 million connections per month as of the end of 2009, to almost 13 million per month. Of the total estimated 342 million connections at the end of 2010, Europe will lead the way with 120 million connections, becoming the number one region for HSPA connections, with Asia Pacific accounting for 116 million and North America 58 million.
The GSMA notes that operators around the world are pledging investment for continued HSPA and HSPA+ network upgrades to optimise available data speeds and maximise network capacity. In March 2009, mobilkom austria launched Europe’s first HSPA+ network to achieve competitive differentiation in a saturated mobile market. Through ongoing investment, mobilkom austria has developed an extremely successful mobile data offering and has seen its number of customers quadruple over the last three years.
“mobilkom austria was the first European mobile operator to deploy HSPA+ technology, and we now have one of the fastest Mobile Broadband networks in Europe,” says Telekom Austria Group CEO, Hannes Ametsreiter. “We’ve been able to cost effectively offer our customers peak download speeds up to 21Mbps, delivering an expansive mobile experience.”
There are currently 200 million HSPA connections worldwide, with more than 1,800 HSPA-enabled devices available from more than 150 suppliers. Across 123 countries, there are currently 294 commercially live networks, of which 183 currently deliver peak data rates of above 3.6 Mbps, and 37 commercially live HSPA+ networks, each capable of delivering data speeds up to 21 Mbps.

Orange Top for Mobile Broadband

Orange offers the UK’s most reliable mobile broadband service. That’s the conclusion of a ‘Dongle Tracker’ survey carried out by YouGov, which polled 4,944 adults online, of which 2,037 used mobile broadband by means of a dongle, modem stick, or datacard. Orange’s mobile broadband sample was 187 customers.
Orange was ranked top in nine out of 15 categories, including upload speed, ease of use, getting connected, staying connected and reliability (day and evening).
“Retaining our position as the top mobile broadband provider in the UK is a great accomplishment which we’re really proud of,” says Orange UK Director of Broadband and Home, Asif Aziz. “This win is recognition of our strong focus on network quality and brilliant customer service and it’s our aim to build on these, as well as the products and services we offer, to ensure our customers continue to benefit from a high quality user experience.”

CCS Report Predicts Rapid Mobile Broadband Growth

A report released today by the analyst CCS Insight predicts explosive growth for mobile broadband across Europe. Despite varying environments across Europe’s five major markets, the one common factor is growth, underpinned by HSPA and HSPA+ mobile broadband technology.
According to the report, the European mobile broadband market will see subscriber and revenue numbers nearly double by 2011. Total mobile broadband subscribers in key European markets will rise from around 22 million at the end of 2009 to over 43 million in 2011, while total revenue from mobile broadband access in the major markets will rise from less than €6 billion (£5.4 billion)in 2009 to more than €11 billion in 2011
“It is clear from this report that with the right network investment, European mobile network operators will see significant growth in Mobile Broadband adoption in the next two years,” saysMichael O’Hara, Chief Marketing Officer at the GSM Association (GSMA). “HSPA technology will drive this rapid uptake across Europe as mobile operators and their customers continue to benefit from its expanding, vibrant and competitive ecosystem. HSPA technology has a vast number of enabled devices and established roaming capabilities delivering high speed broadband connectivity to users on the move, right across Europe.”
Key findings from the report include:

• In Italy, most access is charged by the minute, while operators elsewhere, particularly in the UK, have largely adopted flat-rate, all-you-can-eat models.
• Among Europe's major markets, the highest charging countries for Mobile Broadband are France, where 4GB of data can cost a subscriber almost €85 a month, and Germany, where subscribers can pay €45 for each gigabyte of data.
• The least expensive Mobile Broadband in the top five markets can be found in the UK, where competition is fierce, and where subscribers can pay less than €17 a month for 3GB of data traffic, and less than €5 for each gigabyte of data.
• France and Spain will see the fastest growth in mobile broadband users, and the advent of new subscribers - and a fourth operator in France - will be accompanied by a reduction in average charges.
• The most common allowances across Europe are 1GB, 3GB and 5GB a month.

“Competition will have a huge impact on the growth of mobile broadband across Europe, both in terms of increasing subscriber numbers and the average revenue operators will see from each subscriber,” says CCS Insight Managing Director, Shaun Collins. “In this market, we expect to see not only growth, but also changes in the dynamic across Europe as the countries currently with the least mobile broadband penetration - France and Spain - experience the fastest growth in subscribers in the coming years.” 

Nexus One To Hit Mobile Broadband Sales

Comparison website Broadband Expert says the introduction of Google’s Nexus One phone will further contribute to falling mobile broadband sales in 2010.
Broadband Expert experienced a 16.5% dip in dongle sales over the 2009 Christmas period compared to the previous year, and believes the increasing popularity of Smartphone technology is at least partly to blame.  
The company also states that the slow speeds associated with mobile broadband is another factor that has contributed to the decline in sales. Broadband Expert recently reported that the average mobile broadband speed in the UK is less than 1Mbps, which is a quarter of the speed advertised by the providers.
“The fact that mobile broadband service providers have over promised and under-delivered with regards to mobile broadband speeds has not helped the industry,” says Broadband Expert Commercial Director, Rob Webber. “It has led to a general mistrust of the technology, as well as the companies that provide it. Such misleading advertising has also led to disappointment among consumers who have taken up mobile broadband with expectations that it provides a viable alternative to fixed line broadband.”
Despite the current downturn in mobile broadband sales, Broadband Expert believes that advances in mobile broadband networks are set to buck the negative trend in the near future. The next generation of mobile broadband - 4G mobile broadband - will provide consumers with the higher speeds and data rates associated with fixed line broadband; as well as voice, data and streamed multimedia applications; while on the go.
“The more advanced capabilities of 4G mobile broadband, together with the development of increasingly compact and sophisticated netbook and laptop hardware technology, means that mobile broadband will be able to meet all of a consumer’s Internet requirements in the near future,” says webber. “This improved service will undoubtedly bolster mobile broadband sales, however until 4G is a reality, Broadband Expert expects to see mobile broadband dongle sales continue to fall in 2010.”

Free Laptop Mobile Broadband Deals On the Up

Sales figures from broadband comparison site www.broadband-expert.co.uk show that ‘free laptop’ mobile broadband contract deals were up by 115% in the first week of December compared to the first week of November, and made up seven out of 10 of the company’s total contract mobile broadband transactions in this time.
“One reason for the boost in ‘free laptop’ sales is that these deals are enticing many Christmas shoppers who were initially looking to purchase a standalone laptop,” says
Broadband Expert Commercial Director, Rob Webber. “Free laptop bundles are popular because they allow customers to avoid the upfront cost of a new computer.”
Webber warns that, when making their decision, consumers should be aware that over the term of the contract the cost of the laptop may work out to be up to 20% higher than if it was purchased ‘off the shelf’.  “The term ‘free laptop’ should not be taken at face value,” he says.  “Providers make sure the price of the hardware is recovered by tying consumers into longer contracts in order to make the money back.”
Providers such as T-Mobile and 3 are set to benefit from this festive trend and are driving large volumes of mobile broadband contract sales by offering laptops and netbooks as part of a mobile broadband contract.  However some companies, such as Vodafone, look to have taken a commercial decision to reduce the number of these deals they are offering.
“Whilst this type of promotion can give a big boost to sales figures, there is an increased amount of risk to the mobile operator which needs to cover the upfront cost of the laptop or netbook and will typically be exposed to a greater risk of non payment and fraud than with other products,” says Webber.
Broadband Expert noted a similar trend of increased free laptop sales last year but says that this year’s figures suggest that the volume of free laptop sales will easily surpass the number sold last Christmas.  The company also reports that Pay As You Go mobile broadband sales are up by 18% in the first week of December, 2009 compared to the first week of November, 2009.

Virgin Media Speeds Up

Virgin Media has launched a high-speed 7.2Mbps mobile broadband USB modem. The modem is available on a flexible 1 month rolling or 18 month contract, with a choice of a 1GB or 3GB data bundle.
The speedy nature of the new dongle means it’s ideal for quick browsing, downloading and even keeping up with your favourite shows via BBC iPlayer or YouTube (with less buffering and stuttering), the perfect way to stay connected anywhere.
“If you’re not at home or near a wireless connection, mobile broadband is the best way of staying connected on the move and we’re delighted to be making this a speedier, more pleasant experience for our customers,” says Virgin Media Executive Director of Mobile, Graeme Oxby.

ThinkPads Go Gobi

PC maker Lenovo will incorporate Qualcomm’s new Gobi2000 technology into upcoming ThinkPad laptops in the X, T and W Series next year, to enable global 3G connectivity. The Gobi-equipped laptops will provide business users with extensive wireless broadband access both domestically and internationally by leveraging the wide availability of both EV-DO and HSPA wireless networks around the world.
Businesses deploying ThinkPad laptops with Gobi technology will be able to standardize on a single hardware platform that can be deployed globally,” says Qualcomm. “Each region has the flexibility to provision 3G connectivity on an as-needed basis, and to their preferred carrier, based on the coverage and pricing plans available in their area. If an employee relocates to a different region or is travelling outside the home coverage area, Gobi technology supports the ability to switch carriers without having to swap data cards and/or reinvest in a new laptop. Gobi technology also includes an integrated GPS receiver for enabling location-based services such as asset tracking, real-time data protection, geo-fencing and navigation.
“Gobi mobile Internet connectivity will give our business PC users the convenience of using one simple, built-in device to provide mobile broadband access around the world,” says Sam Dusi, Vice President, Worldwide ThinkPad Product Marketing for Lenovo. “This flexible, multi-carrier solution allows mobile workers to seamlessly connect to new broadband networks as they change locations, while simplifying the work of IT managers, to support users around the globe with a single laptop model."

Camiant Reveals Mobile Broadband Research Findings

Camiant has revealed the findings of its latest study, ‘Rethinking Mobile Broadband Data Rate Plans’. The study finds that by redesigning mobile broadband data rate plans, operators will be able to help solve one of the industry’s most pressing concerns, which Camiant dubs the “bandwidth-value gap”, and defines as “the growing disconnect between bandwidth demand and revenue growth”.
Camiant notes that, according to estimates from research firm Heavy Reading, bandwidth on 3G mobile networks is growing by approximately 400% annually, while the associated revenue from data services is growing by approximately 40% per year. Camiant’s study reveals that mobile data consumers are more interested in rate plans designed to control bandwidth and that afford incremental revenue add-ons than they are in traditional ‘Cap + Overage’ rate plans, with strict usage caps and steep overage penalties.
The study was commissioned by Camiant and conducted by Heavy Reading in September and October 2009. 263 mobile broadband dongle users throughout Europe, including the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Sweden were polled regarding their preferences for various forms of rate plans. 
Key findings among consumers with Cap + Overage-style rate plans include:

• 62% didn’t know what their usage cap was
• 76% didn’t know how much bandwidth they actually used
• 39% didn’t know what happened if they went over the usage cap
• 45% were very/moderately concerned about exceeding the cap

When presented with four alternative rate plan structures and asked for their preference, Cap + Overage was least preferred by consumers. A plan that includes the same base package, charging the same effective rate for overage with the understanding that service speed would be low for any data over the monthly limit during peak hours, generated more than twice the interest level:
The preferences were as follows:

• €20 (£18) for 3GB + €20/GB overage: 16%
• €20 for 3GB + €7/GB overage + peak bandwidth limit: 35%
• €20 for unlimited low-speed service: 23%
• €50 for unlimited high speed service: 26%

The research also reveals that many users were willing to pay additional fees beyond the base subscription for potential extras. 43% of all respondents would pay €5 in addition to base plan for unlimited usage of one specific application. Of those that were interested, 90% said it was important that they select the application. 45% of respondents interested in a service that might provide lower speed at some point said they would be willing to pay between €1 and €3 for on-demand higher speed “for a short duration (e.g. 1 hour).”
“The prospect that network growth could consume revenue faster than operators can generate it marks a new phase in the industry’s maturation,” says Randy Fuller, Vice President of Business Development at Camiant. “Our study clearly indicates that there are definite opportunities for mobile operators to use rate plan structures to help solve this problem and that users are receptive to creative alternatives.” 
By rethinking mobile data rate plans, says Camiant, operators can enable users to make value decisions based more in line with operator cost, as well as directly address peak bandwidth utilization and the true cost of marginal network growth. Also, since operators can offer variable and ARPU-expanding options in search of market share growth rather than simple discounts, the potential occurrence of a profit-destroying price war should be reduced.
“It’s becoming very clear that network operators need to offer a wider range of package options to users of mobile data users,” says Graham Finnie, Chief Analyst at Heavy Reading. “This study provides strong evidence that end users are willing to consider a range of alternatives to conventional usage management schemes.”

Mobile To Pass Fixed Broadband by 2011, says mobileSQUARED

Mobile broadband connections will exceed fixed-line broadband connections in 2011, according to a new report ‘Taking Internet Mobile: UK’, to be released by research and analyst house mobileSQUARED on 5 November.
The company forecasts that by 2011, the number of active 3G devices in the UK will be 36.3 million, as well as 6.4 million dongles/embedded devices, taking the total number of mobile broadband connections to 42.7 million, versus an expected 42.5 million broadband Internet users.
While the analyst house predicts Internet usage over the mobile phone to remain below traditional fixed-line usage during the forecast period of 2009-2014, the company’s research has revealed that between 1-10% of a company’s Internet traffic is already being generated from a mobile device.
“Mobile will become the primary access point for brands and businesses communicating with its consumers within two years,” says Nick Lane, Chief Analyst at mobileSQUARED, and author of the report. “Mobile is always-on, and the average user carries their device for an average of 16 hours a day. So if a company or brand is not already considering how to use mobile, then they need to because their customers are.”
However, not all of the 3G broadband connections in 2011 will be used for surfing by UK consumers. The report forecasts the number of mobile Internet users in the UK will top 32 million by 2014 (equating to 90% of 3G broadband subscribers), but believes the 32 million figure could be reached faster with clearer data pricing from UK operators, as well as the introduction of variable data pricing.
“Data pricing in the UK is still confusing,” says Lane. “Mobile operators and high-street retailers produce monthly magazines dedicated to handsets and tariffs; how can that not be confusing to the consumer? The number of mobile Internet users would expand even faster if mobile data pricing reflected existing models, such as variable pricing to appeal to different demographics. The cash-poor, time-rich youth democratic cannot afford the flat-rate plans, so why not offer a data pricing concession to encourage adoption?”
During the forecast period 2009-2014, mobileSQUARED predicts that mobile content and services revenues (including apps) in the UK will almost treble, from revenues of £242.1 million in 2009. Similarly, the analyst house forecasts that revenue from the core Internet-based mobile advertising models of banners and links, search and tenancy, will be worth £83.7 million in 2014.
The full report will be released at the ‘Taking Internet Mobile Roadshow’, being held in London this Thursday afternoon. At the event, research firm Lightspeed Research will be unveiling its research on the UK’s mobile Internet behaviour, while Trendstream will reveal how social behaviour on mobile will become one of the most powerful channels. All research is contained in the ‘Taking Internet Mobile: UK’ report.
Other companies speaking at the event, which is sponsored by Airwide Solutions, Qualcomm, Bango, Smaato and Movenpick, include Microsoft, Movenpick, Pepsi, Vodafone, O2, Flirtomatic, Sponge and Sony.
There’s more information about the event here

Mobile Broadband Comes Under Twitter Scrutiny

MobileBroadbandSupermarket.co.uk is using Twitter to monitor the levels of service that networks are delivering to mobile broadband customers.
The dongle comparison site has formulated a way to analyse all tweets within 25 miles of 12 UK cities. All comments about mobile broadband networks and their performance will be logged, in order to give a developing picture of the quality of service consumers are experiencing. The outcome will enable visitors to the MobileBroadbandSupermarket site to see for themselves how well each network is performing in their area.
The current plan is that MobileBroadbandSupermarket will issue a quarterly statement indicating levels of performance across the following UK conurbations: London, Bristol, Birmingham, Nottingham, Leeds, Newcastle/Sunderland, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool, Cardiff and Sheffield.
“Sometimes people’s subjective experience is a very valuable index of business performance, and we thought that by using tweets in this way we were providing mobile broadband consumers with an additional level of insight that will enable them to make an informed choice when purchasing a Dongle,” says MobileBroadbandSupermarket Managing Director, Andy Gott. “Not only can this assist people to make the right choice based on their area, it can also point out the relative merits of a network in another area – so for frequent business travellers and students, it will prove very useful as they need connectivity in more than one location.”

Mobile Broadband Deals Compared

MobileBroadbandSupermarket.co.uk has launched a monthly round-up of mobile broadband deals. With mobile broadband usage soaring, the variety of deals in the marketplace can be confusing, so MobileBroadbandSupermarket  provides neutral and transparent consumer support – on occasion advising consumers who want to buy a dongle that it might not be the right choice for them. With the dongle market set for massive growth, MobileBroadbandSupermarket says its approach is to help consumers understand the variety of offerings available - not just in terms of price, but also usage limits and levels of service.
 “Anybody considering a mobile broadband package, should sign up for our monthly round up, as it will keep you abreast of the best current offers,” says Managing Director, Andy Gott. “The benefit of signing up for the update is that you will be able to make a confident buying decision, without doing hours of research first – it will enable you to make an informed decision about which network is offering the best mobile broadband deal to suit your circumstances.”

Freedom4 Ready to Roll

Freedom4, the joint venture between Daisy Group plc and Intel Capital, has been granted a licence variation by Ofcom that enables it to offer mobile wireless broadband services to its customers using its nationwide 3.6GHz spectrum.
Freedom4 has already achieved the world’s first seamless mobile WiMAX handover between base stations operating at 2.5GHz and 3.6GHz, and architected a high capacity core network, capable of delivering wholesale services. The licence variation gives Freedom4 the technical and regulatory flexibility to satisfy demand for fixed and mobile Internet connectivity; higher bandwidth per user; and the provision of broadband in areas where the existing infrastructure is either weak or lacks resilience.
“The Company now has both the spectrum position and technical capability to implement a network and services platform ideally suited to compete in the rapidly expanding market for fixed and mobile broadband wireless access,” notes Freedom4 CEO, Mike Read.
Freedom4 owns the largest contiguous block of 4G compatible spectrum currently issued in the UK, together with national spectrum at both 4GHz and 28GHz, which is ideal for delivering wireless backhaul. Freedom4 has integrated wireless network equipment, and has both fixed and mobile devices to connect to its network, including the world’s only quad band WiMAX dongle. The company says it is in a state of readiness for build-out, having architected and integrated all necessary network equipment for operation.

US Mobile Broadband Analysed

Coda Research Consultancy, which specializes in market and behavioural research into new technologies, has released the results of an in-depth study into US mobile broadband.
The report interrogates current and future drivers for mobile broadband take-up and revenue streams, considering a variety of devices and applications, operating systems and changing consumer behaviour. It also provides extensive forecasts up to 2015 for the Smartphone; smartbook and netbook/sub-notebook markets; device ownership; content usage (including video and mobile banking and payments); traffic across each device and by traffic type; and revenues and ARPU for each mobile carrier.
The report forecasts that:

• Mobile broadband traffic will rocket to 724TB (Terabytes) per month in 2015.
• 74 million Americans will access video via mobile phones in 2015, up from 15 million in  2009. 24 million Americans will access video via notebooks and netbooks.
• Video traffic will be responsible for the majority of traffic growth, and will form nearly two thirds (63%) of mobile broadband traffic by 2015. This will be mainly short-form content such as comedy, music, news clips, and viral videos.
• 78 million Americans will access mobile banking via their phones in 2015.
• Audio traffic will reach 90TB per month in 2015.
• Mobile broadband phone penetration will rise to reach 244 million in 2015, up from 37% in 2009 - a CAGR of 18%.
• Smartphone penetration will reach 51% of mobile phones in use by 2015.
• Two thirds of mobile broadband phone owners will regularly access the Internet via these devices by 2015, a CAGR of 26%.
• Mobile phones will take up two thirds of mobile broadband traffic by 2015, up from 49% currently, reflecting the centering of mobile broadband upon phones
• Netbook ownership continues to rise, and will be at around 12 million at the end of 2009.
• Netbook ownership will rise by a CAGR of 33% to reach 58 million in 2015, although only around half of owners will access the Internet as least weekly.
• Netbook traffic will rise by a CAGR of 96% between 2009 and 2015. Of netbook traffic, video will rise at a CAGR of 120%, to reach 41TB per month in 2015.
• Mobile data revenues will be welcome amid stagnating voice revenues. While voice revenues will decline at a CAGR of -1%, revenue from mobile data will increase at a CAGR of 15% over 2009. Two thirds of this will come from mobile broadband.
• Thanks to mobile broadband, data ARPU will increase by a CAGR of 14% between 2009 and 2015.
• Of all carriers, Verizon will continue to gain highest revenues from data, and these revenues will rise at a CAGR of 18%. T-Mobile will continue to fetch lowest data revenues, although these will rise by a CAGR of 14%.
• Although achieving lower overall data revenues than AT&T and Verizon, Sprint will continue to gain highest data ARPU.

“Clearly, no single device is going to win out,” says Coda Founder, Steve Smith. We are looking at an eco-system of devices that people will use according to where they are, who they are with, what they want to do, and device factors such as around screen size. This also means that device manufacturers and operators will have to provide a range of connectivity means. People tend to think that inbuilt modems are the way forward. Certainly we shall see a rise in these, but there will be a great many people who will want to move broadband dongles from one device to another.
“A challenge for carriers and content providers is that only half of people with Internet-enabled phones actually use them to access the Internet. The potential is there, but organizations need to move people from ownership into integrating their devices into their everyday lives. Consumers need to see and understand the value of mobile broadband.
The report, ‘US Mobile Broadband: Behavior, content and forecasts, 2009-2015’, forms part of Coda Research Consultancy’s 2009 ‘Mobilities’ project. It includes 57 pages of revenue, user and traffic forecasts and commentary up to and including 2015.  
Coda says the report is essential reading for content and rights’ owners, device and component vendors, mobile carriers, service providers, developers, consultants and financial analysts, and anyone else with an interest in the future of mobile broadband in the US.
The report costs £1,185 for a single-user licence; £2,250 for a 2-5 user licence; or £4,500 for an Enterprise licence. There’s more information here.

Mobile Broadband Guide Launched for Students

Online comparison service MobileBroadbandSupermarket.co.uk has launched an online guide to help students choose the best mobile connectivity to suit their circumstances. The guide is available to anyone, but is also being made freely available to webmasters on student sites and forums and editors on student publications.
“We published this guide to help students avoid some of the pitfalls involved with mobile broadband contracts, such as hidden charges and service performance issues,” says
MobileBroadbandSupermarket.co.uk Managing Director, Andy Gott. “With so many students now considering mobile broadband as an alternative to landline-based broadband, these considerations are becoming more important for students wanting to set up a broadband connection during their time at university.”
Recent research has shown that Pay as you go mobile (PAYG) broadband deals are extremely popular among undergraduates living on a limited budget. Some reports have suggested that pre-paid mobile broadband sales have risen by over 70%. Whilst students are aware of the flexibility of some of these deals, some packages incur hidden charges and also have performance issues. With the launch of the student guide, MobileBroadbandSupermarket.co.uk says it is seeking to add clarity to the marketplace and help students to avoid the pitfalls. 
The PDF student guide is free to use and redistribute - and at less than 160kb, should not cause any problems for webmasters who decide to host it on their sites. In addition, MobileBroadbandSupermarket.co.uk is happy to advise anybody requiring any technical assistance to upload the guide to their sites.
You can access the guide here.

Mobile Broadband Deal is a Gift - But Don't Watch Videos

T-Mobile has launched two mobile broadband ‘Gift Packs’ which offer significant savings over regular prepay packages, but which don’t allow users to watch videos.
The 3-month and 12-month gifts packs include a mobile broadband USB stick and unlimited browsing for a single payment, though a fair use policy applies, but T-Mobile does not state what this is. Additionally, a note issued with the press release states: “Browsing is looking at websites and checking emails, but not watching videos or downloading files”.
There are a couple of obvious questions here. Firstly, how much is the fair use policy? Secondly, who cares what you do with it, including watching videos, so long as you don’t bust it? Thirdly, would T-Mobile know that you had been using your Gift Pack to watch videos, if indeed you had? And fourthly, if there’s an attachment on any of your emails, are you allowed to download it? These are all questions we have asked of T-Mobile, and we will update this story once the network comes back to us.
In any event, the Mobile Broadband 3 Month Gift Pack costs £44.03, a saving of over 25% on a comparable T-Mobile prepay package. The Mobile Broadband 12 Month Gift Pack costs £146.79 for a year’s worth of Internet access – a saving of over 20%. 

Broadband Expert's Onspeed Giveaway

Broadband Expert is giving away a free Onspeed Internet acceleration software subscription to anyone signing up for a new mobile broadband contract via the Broadband expert website in September.
The Onspeed software was launched in 1994. It works by compressing web pages and emails so that they can be downloaded more quickly. Broadband Expert’s exclusive partnership with Onspeed will entitle mobile broadband customers to receive a free, one year subscription to the Onspeed software, which normally costs £24.99 per annum, and which the company says can increase speeds by up to 10 times.
Broadband Expert Commercial Director Rob Webber says that the free Onspeed software will help mobile broadband users make the most of their connection.
“Slow mobile broadband can be really frustrating for many Internet users and we were interested in finding out the difference an Onspeed speed boost could make,” says Webber. “We decided to put it through its paces by conducting a road test of mobile broadband speeds across the country.  We found that, on average, Onspeed cut download times by over 60%.”
The Broadband Expert road test monitored the time taken to download a large page of text and graphics with and without the Onspeed software using Vodafone mobile broadband in various locations around the country, including North-west London, Chelmsford, Guildford, Bournemouth and Birmingham. Results showed that the average time to download the same web page with text and images (754,928 bytes) was 5.6 seconds, compared to 2.2 seconds when the Onspeed software was used.

Voda Launches Personal Wi-fi Solution

Vodafone has become the latest network to launch a personal wi-fi hotspot with the launch of the  Vodafone Mobile Broadband Hotspot. The device will initially be available in Germany, Romania and Spain.
The Vodafone Mobile Broadband Hotspot enables users to connect several devices wirelessly, anywhere within the Vodafone Mobile Broadband footprint. The credit-card sized, operating system-independent Mobile Broadband Hotspot enables customers to connect quickly and easily to any device that supports the wi-fi standard, then connect to the internet using Vodafone’s mobile broadband connectivity. Voddafone says the device is expected to bring the benefits of mobile broadband to a new range of devices such as MP3 players, digital cameras and gaming consoles
With one touch to power on, users will be able to detect the mobile wi-fi cloud using any device configured for wi-fi and connect up to five devices within a 10-metre radius. An internal battery provides up to four hours of active use on a single charge. The device delivers speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps on the downlink and 5.7 Mbps on the uplink between the Mobile Broadband Hotspot and the mobile broadband network.
The device offers expandable memory support for up to 16GB via microSD for storing and sharing personal content such as documents, music, video and pictures over wi-fi. Access to the expandable memory is separately available to all devices connected to the Vodafone Mobile Broadband Hotspot. The device is supplied by Novatel Wireless, which specializes in the design and development of wireless broadband access solutions. It will be available through Vodafone direct and business sales channels. There’s more information here.

3 Launches MiFi Wi-fi Solution

3 UK has revealed that its ‘Mobile Wi-Fi’ solution, which enables 3 customers to create their own mobile wi-fi connection, will be available via telesales and the 3 website from Thursday 17 September, and in 3 Stores across the country from Friday 18 September.
Mobile Wi-Fi, also known as MiFi, is a new service from 3 which connects to 3’s network to enable a user to create their own mobile wi-fi connection. It consists of a wireless modem with a 3UK SIM that sends out a wi-fi signal so that the user can connect a range of wi-fi-enabled devices to the Internet without the need for wires or a USB connection. Multiple devices can be connected to the Internet at the same time. All that’s needed is 3 coverage. A wi-fi-enabled device will automatically pick up the signal and ask for an eight-digit network key which the user will have to enter once for every new device they wish to connect.
At launch Mobile Wi-Fi will be available on two plans. ‘Broadband 5GB 1 month’ is a one-month contract that includes 5GB of data for £15 a month on a rolling one-month contract. On this plan, the wireless modem costs £69.99.
For an upfront charge of £99.99, Mobile Wi-Fi will also be available as a ‘Ready to Go’ kit. The deal includes a wireless modem and 3GB worth of data, which can be used over a 3-month period. After the data has been used up, the modem can be used on a Pay As You Go basis at the usual 3 rates: £10 for 1GB; £15 for 3GB; or £25 for 7GB.

Orange Launches £5 Mobile Broadband Plan

Orange has expanded its mobile broadband portfolio, with a selection of new price plans including a mobile broadband plan for less than £5 a month for existing Orange customers. For £4.89 per month, all existing Orange mobile (pay monthly and pay-as-you-go) customers can enjoy the Orange Internet Everywhere service. Available on an 18 month contract, the package comes with a usage allowance of 500Mb per month and download speeds of up to 3.6Mbps. Customers also receive a free Huawei E160e dongle in either black, white or pink which also functions as a memory stick.
Orange is also launching three ‘Early Bird’ tariffs, providing customers with unlimited mobile broadband between midnight and 9am, in addition to their standard data allowance of either 1GB, 3GB or 10GB. Oraneg says these 12-month tariffs are aimed at those who want the freedom to download that little bit more without the worry of the cost – particularly those that download music or video clips, or commuters wanting to download large attachments on a regular basis whilst travelling to work.
Orange is also taking steps to provide consumers with greater control over their mobile broadband usage by launching new software that alerts them when they are approaching their usage threshold. All new and existing Orange mobile broadband customers can download this software for free here.
Orange is also introducing an automatic monthly bill cap which means that Orange mobile broadband customers will not be charged more than an extra £40 per month if they accidentally go over their monthly data allowance whilst using their dongle in the UK.
“We are committed to building our mobile broadband portfolio so it provides customers with a range of flexible solutions to suit the lifestyle they choose,” says Orange UK Director of Broadband and Home, Asif Aziz. “We also want to ensure we reward existing Orange customers, and believe that by offering them the cheapest pay monthly mobile broadband on the market – we really do offer great value for money.”
Orange’s mobile broadband was ranked number one for reliability in You Gov’s ‘Dongle Tracker’ report in April 2009 and rated number one best network for 3G coverage by Ofcom in July 2009.

Dear O2 Dear

If you’re using an O2 mobile broadband dongle, don’t exceed your limit, or it could cost you dear. That’s the conclusion of research conducted by moneysupermarket.com.
According to the comparison website, someone exceeding their 3GB monthly allowance on an O2 dongle could be charged £200 per GB, while 3 charges £100 per GB. That said, both 02 and 3 send a text to the user when they reach their limit, and 3 diconnects the service when additional charges reach £50.
The full list of charges is as follows:

• O2: £200.70 per GB
• 3: £100.40 per GB
• Vodafone: £15 per GB
• Virgin: £14.95
• Orange: £14.64
• T-Mobile: No charge. T-Mobile will recommend a more suitable plan.

The survey found that found 24% of people don’t know if they have a download limit on their mobile broadband, rising to 32% of women. Of those that relaise they have a download limit, 54% don’t know what the limit is.
“Dongle users are most at risk of incurring charges from exceeding download allowances, as limits on dongles tend to be much lower than fixed line packages,” says moneysupermarket.com Manager of Mobiles and Broadband, James Parker. “Whilst the portability is great, users need to be aware that a dongles are most suitable for light users, fixed line is a better value option for heavy users.
“However, limited packages can be the right option for some people, If you are never going to exceed the limit on a dongle they could be the ideal choice. Light internet users looking for a fixed line deal may find a limited package can be better value than an unlimited one and better suit their needs.”

UMTS Notes Rise of HSPA+ Networks

The UMTS Forum has revealed that there are now eight commercially launched HSPA+ (High Speed Packet Access+) networks, according to data provided by Wireless Intelligence, the global database of mobile market information.
The current deployments, detailing operator, country and date of deployment, are as follows:

• Telstra, Australia – Feb 2009
• mobilkom austria – March 2009
• CSL (Telstra), Hong Kong – March 2009
• Vodafone Portugal – June 2009
• Vodafone Greece – July 2009
• TIM, Italy - July 2009
• Optimus (Sonaecom), Portugal - July 2009
• StarHub, Singapore - July 2009

Standardised in 3GPP Release 7, HSPA+ uses sophisticated higher-order modulation schemes – and, later, MIMO antenna technology – to boosting the peak downlink data rates already achieved with HSPA.
While today’s HSPA networks support peak downlink rates of 3.6 Mbps or 7.2 Mbps, most HPSA+ networks launched to date support theoretical downlink speeds of 21 Mbps (peak). Italian operator TIM raises the bar even higher, claiming peak downlink speeds of 28 Mbps at launch.
mobilkom austria was the first operator in Europe to launch HSPA+ in March 2009, offering network coverage in urban and rural areas, to provide additional capacity where demand levels for data traffic are high. The launch was supported initially with the Huawei E270+ USB dongle. Since 1 July 2009, mobilkom austria’s customers have been offered the Huawei E182e USB device that supports 21.6 Mbps downlink and 5.76 Mbps uplink speeds. mobilkom austria has stated that it will also achieve increased downlink speeds of up to 28Mbps by the end of this year, via its ‘Datenturbo’ service. Further enhancements specified in 3GPP Release 8 – and later in Releases 9 and 10 – will drive theoretical peak downlink bit-rates available to HSPA+ operators still higher, to 168Mbps.
Alongside enhanced data transmission speeds, HSPA+ offers other attractions for operators and mobile broadband subscribers, including the ability to cope with increased data traffic loads and capacity needs in specific coverage areas.
The UMTS notes that implementing HSPA+ reduces latency to around 10 ms (compared with 60 ms for HSPA), with a far quicker ‘wake-up’ time from idle. This significantly enhances the quality of interactive services and applications, from audio/video sharing and streaming to instant messaging and social networking. Other key benefits with HSPA+ include greater capacity and improved battery life for mobile devices.
The UMTS has produced a Whitepaper, 'Mobile Broadband Evolution: the roadmap from HSPA to LTE', which provides more information on HSPA, HSPA+ and LTE (Long term Evolution).
“The first half of this year has been an exciting one for mobile broadband”, notes UMTS Forum Chairman Jean-Pierre Bienaimé. “We’ve seen HSPA customer numbers climb quickly, approaching 140 million users out of a global total of 400 million WCDMA/HSPA family subscriptions.
“With mobilkom austria leading the way in Europe and Telstra in Asia/Pacific, HSPA+ is now redefining the mobile broadband user experience, with real-world data speeds that rival many people’s fixed Internet connection. For many WCDMA operators that have already deployed HSPA, HSPA+ may be a compelling step before they migrate to LTE and an all-new radio interface.”

GSMA Celebrates HSPA Success

Global HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) connections will pass the 150 million mark by the end of the summer, according to the GSM Association (GSMA). The GSMA says that with more than 300 networks across 127 countries, and approaching 1,500 HSPA-enabled devices available, HSPA has established itself as the world’s dominant mobile broadband technology.
According to Wireless Intelligence, AsiaPac accounts for almost 50 million live HSPA connections today and will have over 56 million by September; EMEA HSPA connections will pass the 50 million mark “any day” and will have reached almost 60 million by the end of September; and the  US currently has almost 32 million HSPA connections, with the number expected to rise to nearly 37 million by September
“The tremendous success of HSPA demonstrates the enormous ongoing demand for truly mobile broadband access,” says GSMA Director of Technology, Dan Warren. “HSPA’s leading position is not just important to the mobile industry – by using a single technology for mobile broadband services globally, we avoid the fragmentation that limits its potential to improve the quality of people’s lives.”

Greece Lightning

ZTE Corporation, which provides telecommunications equipment and network solutions, along with COSMOTE, the largest mobile network operator in Greece, have launched ZTE's first high-speed HSPA+ USB data card in the country. The MF662 USB modem supports download and upload speeds of up to 21.6Mbps and 5.76Mbps respectively.
The device has been designed specifically for use on HSPA+ networks, and is equipped with a flexible rotatable connector that can be easily adjusted and plugged into any USB interface. It also supports a MicroSD card with data storage of up to 8GB. It is compatible with major operating systems, including Windows XP, Vista, Linux and Mac OS X.
ZTE is the world's second largest and fastest growing supplier of data cards. and sold over 10 million data cards in 2008, a 426% increase over 2007.

Mobile Broadband Too Slow, Survey Finds

Only 11% of mobile broadband users are satisfied with the speed of their mobile broadband, with two thirds claiming their 3G broadband wasn't fast enough. Those are the key findings of a survey conducted by broadband comparison website Broadband Genie, which polled 1,160 consumers on its website in Q2 2009.
While mobile broadband service providers have been falling over themselves to offer subsidised laptop deals, higher usage caps and ever cheaper mobile Internet deals, says Broadband Genie, they have overlooked the service itself. The company says it is constantly inundated with complaints from consumers about 3G broadband services, and that as more people take the service up, this is only likely to continue.
Chris Marling said: “I hope this damning figure makes the mobile broadband ISPs sit up and take notice, says Broadband Genie Editor, Chris Marling. “Until now, they have been overselling a service that is not right for everyone, which will only come back to haunt them.
“The public perception of mobile broadband is often of a service that is comparable in speed and stability to fixed-line broadband, which simply isn't the case – and won't be for the foreseeable future. Exaggerated advertising and unrealistic 'up to' speed claims have given the public a rose-tinted idea of mobile broadband that the service cannot, in most cases, hope to live up to.
Marling adds that mobile broadband providers now need to educate consumers on the downsides, as well as the advantages, of mobile broadband, so that consumers can make informed decisions on whether mobile broadband is right for them.

3 Launches Mobile Broadband Advertising

Mobile operator 3 UK has opened up its mobile broadband ‘dashboard’ as advertising real-estate. The dashboard, which launches every time a user connects to the Internet via their 3 dongle, will be visible to more than 1 million mobile broadband users, and receives more than 30 million impressions every month.
The network is currently looking for the initial set of advertising partners to sign up until the end of 2009. Launch brands will have the option to receive in the region of 1-3 million impressions each month. 3 will sell the inventory direct, or through advertising agencies.
3 says that customer experience of the advertising will be simple and unobtrusive, in line with its ongoing mobile broadband proposition. Once the mobile broadband dongle is plugged into the USB port of a computer, the dashboard will automatically appear with the connection manager and advertising pane alongside. 3 claims to have the UK’s largest high speed mobile Internet infrastructure, and offers a range of mobile broadband packages.
Mobile broadband dashboard advertising has already been used with great success by 3 UK’s sister network in Austria, which is already running campaigns with brands such as VW, Suzuki, Kia, Peugeot, Mazda, Honda and Land Rover. 3 says that companies advertising in this way are seeing a clickthrough rate of up to 6%.
 “3 UK has always led the market when it comes to providing innovative advertising space on mobile, because we have a uniquely powerful network,” says 3 UK Head of Advertising, Neil Andrews. “This has allowed us to do some very interesting things with mobile content and the advertising surrounding this. Our mobile broadband offering is seeing a huge amount of uptake. This new opportunity presents brands with the opportunity of getting in front of a large target audience in a bold and visible manner.”

Roaming Warning

With the new data roaming regulations that came into force yesterday, much of the talk has centred on the welcome news that it’s going to cost less to go talk, text and sruf the mobile web on your phone in the EU from now on. But independent consumer website Broadband Genie has issued a warning, reminding consumers of the cost of using USB dongles to surf the web on your laptop abroad. It points out that downloading one TV show via mobile broadband while abroad on holiday could cost more than the rest of the trip combined.
As of yesterday, the wholesale cost of data in the EU (ie, what suppliers pay each other) was capped at €1 euro per MB by the European Commission. UK mobile broadband providers 3, T-Mobile and Vodafone have all reduced prices to £1.50 per MB or less for EU roaming. However, this is still much more expensive than UK data roaming, while non-EU roaming can still cost more than £6 per MB. There’s a full list of data roaming charges here.
Broadband Genie notes that a single TV episode can comprise between 200MB - 550MB of data, depending on sound and picture quality. A film will be anywhere from 700MB to more than 1.5GB. At £6 per MB then, that must-see episode of ‘The Wire’ (at, say, 350MB) could set you back more than £2,000, while a DVD quality film could cost around £9,000 in data charges. Even at Vodafone's market-leading rate of £9.99 for 50MB in the EU, a 350MB show would cost £70, while customers on 3 or T-Mobile would be looking at an EU bill around £500.
“The most popular services such as the BBC iPlayer and Sky Player only work in the UK, but there are many ways to download shows and films online,” says Broadband Genie Editor, Chris Marling. “If you feel you have to take a UK mobile broadband dongle on holiday, make sure everyone understands it's for basic browsing only. Otherwise, you could be in for a nasty surprise on your return.”

O2 Opens up BT Openzone to Mobile Broadband Customers

O2 is offering its mobile broadband customers access to thousands of BT Openzone wi-fi hotspots for the first time. The partnership, which existing customers will see come into effect today, coincides with an upgrade to O2’s Mobile Broadband Connection Manager software, enabling users to manage their data consumption more effectively.
Existing customers can upgrade their software for wider wi-fi access from 29 June. New customers will automatically receive the new software and wi-fi access when purchasing from late July onwards. The upgrade is currently only available for use with Windows software.
The deal with BT Openzone offers an additional 3,000 hotspot, including most branches of Starbucks, and builds on the unlimited wi-fi all O2 customers receive as part of their O2 mobile broadband tariff.
As a result of the upgrade, O2’s Connection Manager software will automatically copy existing wi-fi profiles from a customer’s laptop into Connection Manager during the initial installation process. This will seamlessly connect users to their home or business broadband wireless networks, without the need to manually enter security codes.
The upgrade will also see the addition of a data counter, enabling users to monitor and control their data consumption more easily. The data counter will provide accurate usage information for individual sessions and link through to an overall usage page. To add extra peace-of-mind for consumers, an automatic notification will be sent to the Connection Manager when 75%, 90% and 100% of their data allowance has been reached.
“We appreciate that our customers want to get the most from their mobile broadband service and we continually look to provide value-added services for them,” says O2’s Head of Pay Monthly, Jonathan Earle. “E2xpanding our Unlimited wi-fi proposition by introducing BT Openzone wi-fi hotspots allowing our customers to stay connected to the people and things that matter to them most. Secondly, we know that customers want to be able to track how much data they have used. Our simple data counter gives the control that our customers want.”

Informa Charts Latin American 3G Growth

Latin America’s mobile operators are pushing data services in order to offset falling voice revenues and satisfy consumers’ growing hunger for value-added products. That helped make 2008 the year of 3G in Latin America, where virtually every Latin American mobile operator launched 3G services. So says Informa Telecoms & Media, which notes that there were more than 6.8 million active WCDMA connections across Latin America at end March 2009, up 50% in just one quarter. Possibly the most striking growth of all has been in Brazil, where there were 3.8 million WCDMA subscriptions at end-March 2009, up from 2.2 million three months earlier.
“We can expect that number to continue to accelerate, because America Movil has made it clear that its investment priority in the region for 2009 concerns its 3G network,” says Informa Senior Research Analyst, said Eva Benguigui.
Informa says it expects investments in 3G networks will accelerate across Latin America. For instance, there will be more than 15 million WCDMA subscriptions in Latin America at end-2009, or less than 3% of the total 522 million mobile subscriptions in the region. However, WCDMA subscriptions will grow to 320 million at end 2014, or 46% of the region’s 689 million total mobile subscriptions at that time.
While the region’s operators are focused primarily on 3G today, Informa believes that mobile broadband technologies such as HSPA, HSPA+ and LTE will be on their technology migration paths as they continue to expand next-generation services in order to offset falling voice revenues with higher data revenues.
However, LTE deployments in Latin America are expected to be a challenge since spectrum is congested in many areas. Nonetheless, operators across the Americas are expected to continue aggressively rolling out mobile broadband networks over the coming years where they have adequate spectrum availability, graduating from today’s 3G and 3.5G networks to faster offerings promised by LTE and, in some cases, WiMAX.

Wi-fi? Why Not?

Niall Murphy, co-founder of The Cloud, argues that Digital Britain will fail without the mobile Internet

The Digital Britain report sets the objectives of modernising digital networks, ensuring access for all, and stimulating the development of a vibrant digital economy and social environment in Britain. The proposals put forward in the report, however, are flawed, through the limited extent to which the creation of an Internet-everywhere, ultra fast broadband mobile Internet environment will be enabled – a critical success factor for a 21st century digital infrastructure in Britain.
The report fails to address the role of wi-fi and related technologies, and to provide a framework for the availability of increased unlicensed spectrum and licensed spectrum with the capacity to provide ultra fast mobile Internet services. Wi-fi today provides simple, fast, wireless broadband and open Internet experience to millions of wi-fi-enabled devices across the UK. Millions of wi-fi networks utilising unlicensed spectrum are creating a high speed mobile Internet access network across Britain. Given Internet access by citizens in Britain during the course of the next five to 10 years will be fulfilled through handheld and mobile devices, it is crucial the Digital Britain report provides a strategy that will enable the broadest possible availability of ultra fast mobile Internet access at the lowest cost, and supporting a dynamic digital economy and environment.

Blending technologies
The Digital Britain report fails to discuss the benefits of blending technologies like wi-fi and 3G or 4G together. Whilst there are clear benefits to spectrum re-farming and the availability of additional spectrum at 2.6GHz and through the digital dividend process, the report fails to address the scale of broadband demand that will be fulfilled through wireless. With mobile Internet users today increasing their mobile data capacity demand at between 3- and 5-fold per annum, 3G and emergent 4G technologies provide insufficient capacity to service this demand – which will be almost 100 times greater per mobile Internet user in Britain by 2015 than it is today.
The report sets the objective of ensuring a viable commercial model for mobile network operators. This goal will be impossible to achieve with operators required to undertake very large capital investments in one technology in an attempt to keep up with mobile Internet speed demands.
A solution is to utilise wi-fi and similar short range, high speed wireless broadband technologies in combination with the ubiquity capabilities offered by 3G and 4G technologies. An ultrafast mobile Internet environment can be created by blending 3G, 4G and wi-fi technologies, and by undertaking initiatives to stimulate and support the creation of high speed wireless broadband wi-fi networks across Britain.

Proof point
The current success of the Apple iPhone provides a proof point for this model, with the device defaulting to wi-fi for Internet access and, if wi-fi is not available, seeking out 3G coverage. The result is a high speed experience and a cost efficient network.
Market forecasts indicate approaching 70% of all Internet traffic will incorporate video or video clips by 2012 – as of today wi-fi is the only available technology to effectively deliver high quality streamed video over the Internet to mobile devices. British citizens will expect to benefit from, and be able to apply a multimedia mobile Internet, and it is therefore crucial that the right strategies are applied to see its creation in Britain. Britain will fail in its ambitions if these issues are left unaddressed.

Digital Britain: Mobiles Key to Universal Broadband Access

The Digital Britain report, published today, says mobile phones are the key to providing broadband Internet access for all. Noting that the next generation of mobile phones are developing PC functionality, and praising the mobile industry’s “extraordinary capacity to take complex technology and make it simple, reliable and low cost”, the report says:
“Given time, low cost broadband mobile phones connected to the mobile broadband network have the best long term potential to ensure complete inclusion of all in the UK to the broadband Internet.”
Elsewhere, the report states that universal broadband service delivery will be achieved through a mix of fixed and mobile, “with mobile ideally placed to make a contribution to the universal service commitment”.
The report also acknowledges that there is a role for Government intervention in releasing new radio spectrum for a rapid roll out of LTE (Long term evolution) networks. It also notes an encouraging consensus among the incumbent mobile operators for mobile broadband networks to be based on 3G or LTE technology, but says this does not preclude a new entrant using other technologies, such as WiMAX. Given the highly competitive nature of the UK mobile radio market, however, the report concludes that: “it looks unnecessary to mandate the technology to be used for mobile Next Generation Networks.”
On the subject of coverage, the report notes that there is near-universal coverage of GSM, but says: “the extensive coverage we now take for granted with GSM has not yet happened with 3G networks”. It notes that roughly 20% of the population do not have a choice of 3G network operator, and that the 90% who can access a 3G service have limited in-building coverage.
The report goes on to say that the Government wants universal coverage for mobile broadband that matches the 99% coverage of GSM, and acknowledges that network sharing, reciprocal access and interconnection regimes are all means of achieving that level of coverage. It also commits to convert existing 3G licenses from time-limited to indefinite in order to give network operators certainty in being able to plan to achieve these coverage requirements.

Olympics to Bring Mobile Coverage to The Tube?

One of the many spin-off benefits of London hosting the Olympics could be the provision of mobile network coverage on the London Underground. The idea is contained in the Government’s Digital Britain report, released today. Noting that the event will be “the most digital Olympics in history”, the report says that it seems a particularly good opportunity for the mobile network operators to work with the mayor of London to provide and fund solutions to take the initiative to improve   broadband mobile access for mobile customers travelling by tube, including international visitors who will be in London for the Olympics.
The report adds:
“If regulatory or other similar constraints turn out to be a barrier, the Government is willing to address these.”
We’ll have more on the report shortly when we’ve had time to digest it.

The Real Cost of Spectrum Auctions

John Strand, CEO of Strand Consult, argues that the process by which mobile telecoms frequencies are auctioned off is bad for society

Back in the year 2000, many politicians saw great possibilities in auctioning off 3G licenses and a number of the world's largest mobile operators spent fortunes on licenses in the hope that this new technology would make customers ARPU explode. Experience now shows that 3G has not helped increase revenue - in fact ARPU has decreased in many countries.
During the coming years, society needs to decide how to handle the spectrum it administrates. We are talking about the renewal of 900 MHz licenses in a number of countries, we are talking about the digital dividend - that is the spectrum that lies between 790-862 MHz in Europe and between 690-806 MHz in Asia and we are talking about the spectrum around 2600 MHz that many operators will use for LTE.
There should be no doubt that spectrum is a resource that belongs to society and, in the same way as society's many other resources (oil, gas, water, gold, silver, diamonds etc) that it should contribute to society's economy. The question is simply: how can society can best utilise these resources? Will it be through selling licences, or by the licenses being used to create an infrastructure that helps society develop, or will it be by combining these two models using a ‘stick and carrot’ model?

Enormous revenues
If you examine the consequences of the 3G auctions, they did give many countries enormous revenues in the short term. On the other hand, it should also be noted that, notwithstanding the recess in the mobile industry between 2000 and 2003, the high licence fees also resulted in 3G having a slower roll-out in a number of the countries that had paid most for their 3G licenses.
At Strand Consult, we believe that the actual value of selling a mobile licence in the future is minimal, compared to the value of a society having a national mobile broadband network, which will enable an increasing number of citizens to connect online, at high speeds and regardless of the customer’s physical location - at home or on the road, in the city or in the country.
We believe that the path forward is an open auction model, where the licenses are sold to operators under certain terms and conditions. We believe that operators should be encouraged to work together on building network infrastructure, especially in thinly populated areas, and we believe that operators who deliver better coverage than required by the licence terms should be rewarded for doing so. This can be achieved by using taxation models, or by giving a share of the auction money back to the operators, if they do things that benefit society.

Work together
When Brazil looked at auctioning off 3G spectrum, it took the decision to force operators to work together on building network infrastructure in the more remote areas, and at the same time, to give  part of the auction money back to those operators that achieved a better coverage than was required by the terms of the licence. Basically, the long-term interests for society, were considered to be more important than short-term financial interests.
In all its simplicity, the political system ought to enter into a close dialogue with operators and view the mobile industry as one that can help develop modern society. Countries that can offer their citizens and companies access to the best telecommunication infrastructure will be the ones best prepared for the future. The telecom industry is - and will continue to be - the industry that connects modern society together, and its products are the foundation which enables countries to become more efficient by using new IT systems and modern telecommunications.
In our latest report, we examine the mobile broadband market, what it looks like and how it is developing. We believe that the possibilities available with mobile broadband today - and in the future - are so immensely important to society, that a simple auction can be very bad business for modern society.

GSMA Issues Mobile Broadband Spectrum Appeal

The GSM Association (GSMA) says it is pleased with the Spanish Industry Ministry’s decision to issue a decree to regulate the 790 to 862MHz band that will be freed up after Spain phases out analogue television, and is calling on other governments to do likewise. The Ministry announced that the spectrum would be available for uses other than analogue television as of January 2015 and which would likely be reserved for cellular use, especially for Mobile Broadband.
“This is an extremely welcome move by the Spanish Government, which will allow the Spanish people to realise the full potential of the digital dividend,” says the GSMA’s Chief Government and Regulatory Affairs Officer, Tom Phillips. “The GSMA calls on other governments in Europe and across the world to act equally decisively and also allocate this spectrum band to mobile broadband services. A harmonised approach will stimulate competition in the mobile market, encourage economic growth and deliver consumers new services at lower cost.”
The GSMA has been working closely with governments and regulators in Europe and other parts of the world to demonstrate the huge and measureable benefits of the digital dividend.

GSMA Releases Mobile Broadband Stats

The GSM Association (GSMA) says that the latest statistics from its Wireless Intelligence research arm demonstrate how HSPA and HSPA+ are fast becoming the de-facto global Mobile Broadband technologies and leading the way in bridging the digital divide.  
There are currently 245 commercially available HSPA networks, supporting more than 125 million live connections in 107 countries. A further 65 HSPA networks are either being deployed, in trial or planned, with an average of 4 million Mobile Broadband connections being added globally on a monthly basis. 
The global deployment of HSPA technology continues to thrive, says the GSMA. There are more than 1,380 HSPA-enabled devices, offered by 134 different suppliers worldwide, creating an ecosystem that is driving economies of scale that will see cost savings passed on to operators and ultimately the subscribers themselves.   
“HSPA Mobile Broadband roll-out is focused on the development of a ubiquitous infrastructure and the proliferation of devices that will connect the world’s population to the Internet,” says the GSMA’s Chief Marketing Officer, Michael O’Hara. “HSPA and HSPA+ have generated strong momentum, which will be sustained through the future proliferation of LTE technology.”   
O’Hara adds that WiMAX is a complimentary technology to HSPA and will play “a niche role”.

Virgin Takes Mobile Broadband Gong

Virgin Media has scooped the overall ‘Dongle on the Move 2009’ Award, the top prize in the first Mobile Broadband Genie Road Trip Awards. Vodafone took the runners- up prize. 
Armed with laptops, plus dongles supplied by all six providers, Genie staff took a 350-mile round trip from Cambridge to Bournemouth, putting the dongles through their paces all the way. The road trip was designed to see how well mobile broadband really performed on the move, as it is often advertised by providers.
This was an on-the-spot exercise over two days, using the kind of frustrating conditions consumers find them themselves in every day. The results echoed the general reaction Mobile Broadband Genie gets from its visitors: we expect much more than it is currently able to supply.
“Mobile broadband has come a long way in a short time, but consumers need to be aware of its limitations,” says Broadband Genie Editor, Chris Marling. “The service is often oversold, which can leave customers disillusioned. However, for many people, it can be a great solution to their Internet problems.”
Marling adds that both Virgin Media and Vodafone performed admirably.
“They completed the majority of challenges and maintaining reasonable average upload and download speeds throughout,” he says. “However, both still suffered disconnects and long periods of downtime in rural locations.”
Mobile Broadband Genie performed a variety of tests throughout the journey. As well as running the Mobile Broadband Genie speed tests throughout the trip, the team performed common tasks such as downloading BBC podcasts, streaming audio and video via YouTube and Spotify, and uploading photos to Facebook.
Here’s the full list of award winners:

• Dongle on the Move 2009: Virgin Media. (Runner up: Vodafone)
• Road Trip Downloader 2009: Virgin Media. (Runner up: Vodafone)
• Road Trip Uploader 2009: Vodafone. (Runner up: O2)
• Road Trip's Most Stable 2009: O2. (Runner up: Orange)
• Road Trip Coverage 2009: Vodafone. (Runner up: Virgin Media)
• Dongle Software 2009: T-Mobile and Virgin Media (joint winners)

There’s more information about the tests and the results here.

MTS Brings 3G to Moscow

Mobile TeleSystems OJSC (MTS), the largest mobile phone operator in Russia and the CIS, has announced the launch of the first phase of its 3G network in Moscow. The first indoor network was launched in Expocentre, one of the largest exhibition centers in Eastern Europe.
MTS has covered the Expocentre exhibition space with the next-generation network, providing customers with data download speeds of up to 3.6 Mbit/s using HSPA technology.
MTS is planning to launch additional 3G networks in the 35 largest business and shopping centres in Moscow during 2009, including Domodedovo International Airport. MTS will also launch indoor 3G networks in the offices of the largest Moscow-based corporations. 3G services will also be rolled out in several cities in the Moscow region, including Noginsk and Orekhovo-Zuyevo.
MTS has also received permission to deploy 3G networks in the Moscow metro. The first test network will be launched on the Sokolnicheskaya line.
MTS says that the development of 3G networks is a cornerstone of its strategy, aimed at providing mobile broadband in the CIS. As these markets demonstrate relatively low levels of fixed-line penetration and historic underinvestment in infrastructure, MTS views its networks as an ideal vehicle to meet the growing broadband Internet needs of its subscribers, through attractive data products and services.
MTS already operates 3G networks in Russia, Uzbekistan and Armenia and offers high-speed data access through its proprietary CDMA-450 network in Ukraine.

OSI and CIQUAL Partner for Mobile Broadband Monitoring

OSI and CIQUAL have announced a partnership that the companies say will deliver true customer broadband experience monitoring and management, enabling mobile operators to offer proactive customer quality management, to increase mobile broadband satisfaction, usage and, ultimately, revenue.
OSI’s Customer Assurance consolidates, analyses and correlates network and service quality data from the network, and control-planes, and with the addition of real-time, per-session customer data from CIQUAL, will provide mobile operators with an end-to-end,  multi-dimensional view of their mobile broadband service and enables them to respond more quickly to issues affecting customers.
“Mobile broadband is the most important new service for mobile operators right now and CIQUAL is providing us with true insight of the customer experience,” says Randy Custeau, Vice President, Sales and Marketing at OSI. “This additional visibility from the user-plane, where the customer accesses the service, is essential for mobile operators to differentiate their customer support processes."

Mobile Broadband Growth to Slow, says Screen Digest

Screen Digest has completed an analysis of the 3G mobile broadband market, conducted by Senior Analyst, Ronan de Renesse. He concludes that although the number of people using mobile networks to connect to the Internet via dongles (USB modems) will continue to rise, the rate of growth is set for a big fall over the next two years. 
Screen Digest notes that there has been a significant uptake in the usage of mobile broadband in the past two years, especially in Europe, where usage grew ten fold from 1 million people in 2006 to 9 million in 2008. Put another way, the mobile broadband market is currently worth more than Mobile TV, mobile games and mobile music combined. This way of accessing the Internet is particularly attractive as an alternative to a fixed connection for students living in private accommodation, people who live in more than one place, and for people who live in areas where fixed-line broadband is not available. 
The growth in take up of mobile broadband has inevitably fuelled a pricing war between the operators. Not only has the number of operators offering mobile broadband increased nine-fold during 2006 and 2007, but they have also become more competitive: 66% offer prepay packages, while 59% have introduced laptop bundles to entice customers to subscribe to their network. In addition, the average subscription price has reduced by a third in the past six months. The result of these competitive strategies has meant that the overall European market has grown to a value of €1.8 billion (£1.6 billion) in 2008, and accounts for 15% of all mobile data revenues.
Because of the nature of mobile broadband, its penetration is highest outside of the big five markets in Europe, where fixed broadband is dominant, so Ireland, Austria, Portugal and Greece had the highest adoption rates in 2008.
Despite its growth, contribution to data revenues and number of subscribers, however, de Renesse expects to see high customer churn rates this year and in 2010. He says:
“The mobile operators have trapped customers into long-term contracts, whilst failing to deliver the unrealistic networks speed that encouraged them to sign up in the first place. The service can be patchy and users become frustrated – many will switch back to fixed broadband if operators don’t act quickly.”
While European growth is set to reach its lowest in 2010 at only 4.7%, the number of connections will rise again in 2011 and 2012 to reach 22.6 million and a total market value of €4.6bn in 2013.
“While this is potentially good news for stand-alone ISPs, upcoming 4G upgrades in 2010 and further price reduction would put the final nail in the coffin for them,” concludes De Renesse.

BT Launches Low-cost Home/Mobile Broadband Bundle

BT has launched what it claims is the UK’s cheapest home and mobile broadband package, starting at £15.65 a month, plus a one-off cost of £49.99 for the mobile broadband USB dongle.
The package offers BT Total Broadband customers up to 8Mb wireless broadband at home, plus a free 1GB monthly mobile broadband bundle. It is available online only to new customers taking Option 1, 2, or 3 on an 18 month contract or taking BT’s standalone product costing £129.99.
Describing the package as: “a fantastic deal”, John Petter, Managing Director of BT’s Consumer division, says:
“The most complete home and mobile broadband for only 56p a day is a no-brainer. Now you can use broadband wherever you are without worrying about the cost."

Frost Analysis Looks to the Future

Mobile operators are expected to fully maximise their high-speed packet access (HSPA) deployments before eventually deploying 3G long-term evolution (LTE). Many operators will leapfrog from HSPA to 3G LTE, as the window of opportunity for HSPA Evolved is insignificant when compared to 3G LTE.
So says the analyst Frost & Sullivan, whose analysis, ‘European Mobile Broadband (EuMoBro) Mêlée between 3G LTE and Mobile WiMAX’, finds that by 2013, there will be around 22.4 million 3G LTE subscribers, with service revenues totalling €9.69 billion (£8.58 billion) in Western Europe. Both Mobile WiMAX and 3G LTE technologies are covered in the research, which is part of Frost & Sullivan’s Mobile & Wireless Growth Partnership Services programme.
The analyst notes that over the past year, mobile data usage has skyrocketed, with six to fourteen times more data being used on mobile broadband networks today than in the previous year. This is being driven by flat rate pricing and high-speed mobile broadband (HSDPA/HSPA) availability. Average users download more than 5GB per month, with some downloading as much as 11GB.
But while data traffic is on the rise, revenues are flat. Operators are witnessing divergence of revenues and traffic load curves for the first time, due to the new data loads and flat rate price models. Hence, network cost has to decline, and there is a strong focus in the 3G LTE camp on margin and production cost.
“Next generation wireless technologies such as 3G LTE and Mobile WiMAX will eventually lead operators to move to an ‘open’ access, any client device connected, Internet model, with the advent of consumer electronic devices being embedded with 3G LTE technology,” notes Frost & Sullivan Programme Manager, Luke Thomas. “This in turn will lead to higher service stickiness and reduced churn.”
However, operators will need to do away with locking-in client devices to their respective mobile broadband access networks, since more Smartphones, UMPCs, laptops and other consumer electronic devices connected to such high-speed networks will lead to incremental revenues for mobile operators.
“If a mobile operator has decided to deploy 3G LTE by 2010/2011, it should immediately start upgrading its backhaul as each LTE base station would require a minimum of 200-300Mbps backhaul capacity,” advises Thomas.
Mobile operators are currently considering high-capacity point-to-point microwave links and relay for backhaul. However, some are considering minimising additional capex on the backhaul by subsidising 3G LTE-enabled femtocells, thereby making their mobile subscribers pay for the backhaul. The deployment of femtocells, however, would require careful network planning to avoid any interference levels between the macrocell and femtocell.
“Rather than providing flat-fee unlimited contracts or traffic caps for 3G LTE and Mobile WiMAX, operators need to be more innovative with their pricing strategies so as to differentiate themselves from competition but, at the same time, ensure that it is not too complicated or non-transparent for the user to understand,” says Thomas. “Furthermore, operators need to put in place effective management tools to manage traffic using QoS policies, prioritised access and flow based processing.”
Such active traffic management will ensure that operators do not tarnish their brand image by levying huge charges for high-speed mobile broadband access.
You can get hold of a virtual brochure, which provides a brief synopsis of the research and a table of contents, by sending an email to: [email protected], complete with your name, company name, title, telephone number, company e-mail address, company website, city, state and country.

 

Study Shows Operators How to Cut Mobile Broadband Costs

Camiant, which provides policy control and application assurance technology, and Omnitele, an international telecoms consultancy, have released the findings of a study that show that mobile broadband operators can realize upwards of 20% savings in their network costs by actively managing mobile broadband congestion. The study found that controlling the bandwidth consumption of certain users solely during peak hours, allows maximum usage of the network by all subscribers when capacity is available, while constraining the need for additional network capacity.
Omnitele tailored their in-depth network cost modelling framework to gauge the cost savings of Camiant’s Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF)-based approach, indicating a substantial reduction in core and radio-access network capacity-related capital and operating expenses.
The cost model factors in market segments, data packages and subscriber counts, as well as the target QoS performance. Other modelling inputs include average monthly data volume for each service offered, and the share of this data volume that falls into the network’s busy hours; dimensions for spreading of the total traffic across the sites and cells of the network, including scaling as appropriate for network busy hours; and the nature of the bandwidth controls and which subscribers the controls are applied to
The primary output metrics are:

• Total infrastructure capex and opex, reflecting typical network capacity-related vendor pricing mechanisms.
• The cost of transferring a gigabyte of data for each subscriber type.
• Average traffic related monthly network costs for each subscriber type.

“Mobile broadband is the single most promising growth engine in the entire telecommunications industry,” says Randy Fuller, Vice President of Business Development at Camiant. “However, it is critical for mobile operators to intelligently manage bandwidth consumption, since the cost per bit to deliver traffic is so high relative to fixed broadband networks.  The cost model shines a strong light on this fact, and Camiant is working with the mobile industry to pave a successful way forward.”
Pal Zarandy, Principle Consultant at Omnitele, notes that there is clear demand for mobile broadband, but warns that there is a serious risk that costs of future capacity upgrades will outweigh incremental service revenues, unless the future network costs are revealed in time and kept under control. 
“Introducing intelligent congestion management is one of the key steps that mobile broadband operators need to take in order to secure their sustainable profitability, while providing subscribers with best possible service.” Says Zarandy.
To learn more about Mobile Broadband Congestion Management, you can download the Whitepaper, ‘Opportunity in the Air: Managing Congestion in Mobile Broadband’ via the Camiant website.

comScore Finds Mobile Broadband Growth Slowing

comScore has released the results of a study of US Internet usage via mobile PC data cards, which show that the subscriber base, which has previously been growing strongly – began to decelerate noticeably in Q4 2008.
The study examined the usage and characteristics of mobile PC data card users through data collected from computers where users accessed the Internet via mobile broadband Internet Service Providers (ISPs). Mobile broadband employs cellular telecommunication networks, where users pay subscription fees for access, and the connection is made using a PC card, built-in adapter, or via a tethered mobile phone or PDA.
PC data card adoption grew 163% overall in 2008, slightly ahead of the 157% growth rate in 2007. Despite this rapid adoption curve, however, Q4 2008 showed the first signs of softness in the market, as sequential quarterly subscriber growth fell to just 5%, following sequential growth of 22% in Q3 2008 and several preceding quarters of double-digit growth.
“The PC data card market is clearly in the early stages of its adoption curve, with the overall number of subscribers multiplying in the past few years,” says Serge Matta, Senior Vice President at comScore. “That said, we’ve observed a significant deceleration in subscriber growth during Q4 2008, coinciding with the economic downturn, an indication that mobile broadband service may still be seen by many as a luxury rather than a necessity. Now is the time for mobile broadband providers to solidify their market position, because as the economy begins to recover and discretionary spending resume the market will likely accelerate once again. Verizon appears well-positioned for this eventual resurgence, having gained two market share points in the past year.”
The study also compared the Internet usage patterns of mobile broadband PC data card users with the general US Internet population, to determine how the availability of mobile broadband affects online time. It is important, comScore notes, to understand whether online access via mobile broadband represents incremental Internet usage or merely a shift in usage time between different access points.
When looking at the population in aggregate, the results indicated that PC data card usage represents a time-shift in Internet consumption, as PC data card users spent almost the same amount of time online (89 hours) as typical US Internet users (90 hours) during Q4 2008. Of PC data card users with both a PC data card and a fixed-line ISP, approximately 25% of their total online time (22 hours) was spent using a PC data card.
“That aggregate Internet usage via PC data card is not incremental to standard wireline Internet usage suggests that it’s a valuable convenience feature for many Internet users,” says Matta. “That said, there are also certain segments with PC data cards that do spend additional time online, likely indicating that these segments see PC data card as more of a necessity. Carriers seeking to generate strong PC data card subscriber growth during the current downturn will need to focus their marketing efforts on the differing needs of the various segments and consider offering financial incentives in this tough economic environment if they hope to continue attracting new users.”

Informa Sees Bright Future for Mobile Broadband

The mobile broadband market exploded in the last year, driving major increases in mobile operator data subscribers and revenues, and will play an increasingly central role in the success of the mobile industry. That’s the conclusion of a report just published by Informa Telecoms & Media, entitled ‘Future Mobile Broadband: HSPA and EV-DO to LTE Networks, Devices and Services – 3rd Edition’.  
The report analyses and quantifies the mobile broadband market opportunity for 2008 through 2013, looking at key current and future mobile broadband systems, including HSDPA, HSUPA, HSPA+, LTE, EV-DO, EV-DO Rev. A/B, TD-SCDMA and WiMAX. New forecasts in this edition include LTE subscribers; device units sales; operator data revenues; and portable device unit sales, including USB modems, datacards, notebooks and netbooks.
“Mobile broadband has become one of the key growth engines for the mobile industry, with 186 million mobile broadband subscribers worldwide at the end of 2008, up 84% from 101 million at end-2007,” says Mike Roberts, Principal Analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media and lead Author of the report. “By 2013, mobile broadband subscribers will represent almost one-third of total mobile subscribers worldwide.”
The mobile broadband boom was triggered by the combination of widespread mobile broadband network coverage, appealing devices such as USB modems and the iPhone 3G, and competitive flat-rate tariffs.
The report finds that at the end of 2008, there were more than 400 commercial mobile broadband networks worldwide, supporting thousands of different mobile and portable devices, and generating billions of dollars in operator revenues.
The mobile broadband markets in the US, Japan and Korea saw phenomenal growth in 2008, which led the three markets combined to account for the majority of global mobile broadband subscribers by the end of the year.
“The US, Japan and Korea dominated the global market in 2008, but this is changing fast as mobile broadband becomes a mass-market service worldwide,” says Roberts.
For example, all the pieces are falling into place for China Mobile’s TD-SCDMA mobile broadband service to gain traction by 2010, and that together with new HSPA, EV-DO and TD-LTE services will drive the country to become the second-largest mobile broadband market worldwide in 2013, according to the report. . India will be the fourth-largest market in 2013, following BSNL’s launch of EV-DO mobile broadband services in 2008, and BSNL’s and MTNL’s expected launch of HSDPA services in late 2009.
Mobile broadband will not, however, be immune from the economic downturn, which will pile the pressure on beleaguered equipment vendors and force some operators to scale back or delay major investments, particularly in next-generation systems such as LTE.
“There’s no doubt that the downturn will delay LTE deployments, with major operators already citing it as a key factor leading them to push LTE launch dates to 2011-12,” says Roberts. “Major operators such as Verizon Wireless and NTT DoCoMo are still committed to launching LTE in 2010, but the economy will still be tough then, which could hit rollout schedules and takeup. Many operators are also realizing that HSPA and HSPA+ upgrades should meet their needs for the next few years, and will cost a lot less than LTE rollouts. The net result is that the LTE subscribers will not start taking off until 2013.”
The report concludes, however, that the overall outlook for the mobile broadband market is good, with Informa predicting strong growth through 2013 in mobile broadband subscribers, device unit sales and operator data revenues.
There’s more information about the report here.

All Change

John Strand, CEO of Strand Consult, explains why the launch of Opera Turbo, and the rapid growth in the mobile broadband market, will create a paradigm shift on the desktop web browser market

The desktop browser market is characterised by developing towards browsers that have an increasing level of functionality and that are becoming larger and more bulky. Likewise, many websites that visitors access using their browsers are also becoming increasingly bulky. The increased complexity and bulkiness of browsers and websites has been compensated, however, by faster PCs and the transition from dial-up Internet connections to DSL broadband.
In Strand Consult’s report ‘Successful Strategies for the Mobile Broadband Market’, we have examined this market development. The fact that mobile broadband is being sold as a flat-rate product - but with a maximum download limit - has resulted in completely new needs emerging from both operators and customers.
From the operators’ point of view, the success of mobile broadband has resulted in operators facing large investments in network capacity and in their backhaul (backbone) - the network that delivers broadband and capacity to the base stations. The colossal explosion in mobile broadband traffic has resulted in the whole mobile industry facing multi-billion infrastructure investments - investments that are growing daily as mobile traffic increases, and an ever-increasing number of customers use a mobile broadband network to connect to the Internet.

Data-compression solutions
During the many workshops we have held for operators around the world, we have experienced many operators asking for solutions that can limit or compress their flat-rate data traffic. We have taken a closer look at this problem in the analysis here.
In practice, there is no doubt that if you sell flat-rate connections, it is important to examine any way that you can either limit the amount of data traffic, or alternatively, create new sources of revenue.From a customer's point of view, it is important to optimise the available bandwidth when using mobile broadband and to get as much value for money as possible out of the data traffic included in the mobile broadband package. Basically, customers want to surf quickly and inexpensively - and it needs to work.
But the development we have been experiencing on the desktop browser market has not taken into account the development of the mobile broadband market, and the browser industry has not taken into account the needs of millions of mobile broadband customers in the short, medium and long-term. Strand Consult has had a great deal of focus on this issue, both in our workshops and in our dialogue with companies like Opera in Norway. This has been one of the main areas that we believe both operators and browser developers like Opera should be very focused on.

Opera Turbo
Last week at MWC, Opera announced Opera Turbo, a desktop browser that combines the widely-known Opera Mini compression technology with a desktop browser. This allows users to surf the Internet faster, while using less bandwidth, compared to a traditional desktop browser. At Strand Consult, we believe that the traditional desktop browser industry is facing a paradigm shift and that the browser manufacturers will need to address the millions of new mobile broadband customers that are choosing to purchase a new mobile broadband connection each month. Quite simply, both end-users and mobile operators will demand products with the functionality that Opera is launching with Opera Turbo.
The good news for the browser industry is that the experience from Opera Mini and from the many operator workshops that Strand Consult has held around the world shows that mobile operators have the ability and willingness to pay market players like Opera to allow their customers access to browser technology like Opera Mini and Opera Turbo. At the end of the day, operators need to limit their CAPEX, while increasing end user experience when customers use mobile broadband connections to surf the Internet.
In our mobile broadband report, we analyse the challenges operators are facing, and explain why an application like Opera Turbo will help create a paradigm shift for the traditional desktop browser industry. With the launch of Opera Turbo, the mobile industry will most probably experience a paradigm shift larger than we have seen with Apple and the iPhone. One thing is certain - there is a great probability that there will be many more people using browsers like Opera Turbo to surf the Internet, than people using the iPhone.

Voda Hungary Deploys Camiant Policy Engine

Camiant, which provides policy control and application assurance technology, has revealed that Vodafone Hungary has successfully deployed its Multimedia Policy Engine (MPE) in record time. This is the first deployment of a 3GPP Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF)-compliant system in a Vodafone network.
The implementation, which was completed in four months, was a component of Camiant partner Starent Networks' packet core deployment, providing Vodafone Hungary with the ability to ensure that their subscribers have the highest QoS (Quality of Service) over its broadband network.
Camiant’s MPE, using 3GPP-compliant interfaces in conjunction with Starent’s ST-40 high capacity platform, provides Vodafone Hungary with dynamic bandwidth control for users that exceed their monthly limits. Traditionally, mobile operators have charged overage fees or stopped users from further using the network when they exceed a monthly usage cap. At Vodafone, Camiant’s MPE enforces a moderated bandwidth level for these users, but only during peak hours. This allows Vodafone’s 3G users to get maximum value from their service, but not at the expense of other users on the network. 
“Mobile broadband is a critical part of our growth strategy,” says Péter Török, Vodafone Hungary Mobile Broadband Senior Manager. “Camiant’s MPE technology allows us to differentiate our 3G services in the market, giving us a great competitive advantage, and enables us to assure that our subscribers have the best possible end-user experience.”
“A key part of Camiant’s success comes from the privilege of working with visionary customers such as Vodafone, Comcast, Cox Communications, Sprint and many others,” said Ed Delaney, President and CEO of Camiant.  “Vodafone is recognized as a worldwide leader in mobile networks. Camiant’s collaboration with Vodafone Hungary is an important step as mobile broadband matures from early adoption to a mainstream, high volume service.”
Jeff Heynen, Directing Analyst for Broadband and Video at Infonetics Research, believes that policy servers are fast approaching ‘must-have’ status. He says:
“Vodafone’s decision to deploy a live system using Camiant’s MPE is a strategic decision on their behalf, and further supports our findings that the incremental cost of a policy server platform is well worth the capital outlay, especially in mobile networks, where broadband data usage is soaring among HSPA providers.”
Camiant’s Policy Control Server, fully compliant with 3GPP’s PCRF specifications, is an essential component of the broadband network, providing real-time intelligence and management of network resources, while creating an infrastructure for new revenue opportunities.

Voda Achieves 16Mbps Mobile Broadband

Vodafone says that it has successfully trialled an evolution of mobile broadband technology, achieving actual peak data download rates of up to 16Mbps. The high speed data connection was achieved during field trials of HSPA+ 64QAM technology on Vodafone Spain’s network.
Vodafone now plans to trial mobile broadband data connections with peak rates of up to 21Mbps early in 2009, using HSPA+ MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) functionality. The company’s technicians estimate that the technology would be capable of delivering a typical video download experience of more than 13Mbps in good conditions, and an average of more than 4Mbps across a full range of typical cell locations, including urban environments. If the trials prove a success, Vodafone plans to make the technology available in selected commercial networks.
“Successfully demonstrating a live HSPA+ high speed connection has been a key milestone in continuing to build confidence in this new technology,” says Vodafone  Global Networks Director, Andy MacLeod. “The results show that HSPA+ technology is well placed to further enhance our customers’ mobile broadband experience through the evolution of our existing 3G networks.”
Vodafone worked in association with Ericsson and Qualcomm to prove the potential of the technology in the field, following impressive data throughput rates achieved in laboratory tests.
HSPA+ technology is the next evolutionary step in the (3G) HSPA roadmap. It increases performance through the use of a more advanced modulation technique called 64QAM. Performance can be enhanced further through the use of multiple antennae on both base stations and data devices (MIMO).
Both 64QAM and MIMO features require new HSPA+ mobile broadband devices.  Vodafone is working with its device vendors on the trialing, testing and validation of these devices, in preparation for commercial availability.
At present, Vodafone mobile broadband customers can download data and surf the net at speeds of up to 7.2Mbps, delivering an internet experience comparable with fixed broadband. Vodafone expects HSPA+ mobile broadband technology to significantly enhance actual download speeds as well as customers’ overall mobile experience.