Mobile voice volume will overtake fixed in Western Europe by mid-year, researchers at Analysys now predict. The proportion of call minutes made from mobiles has increased by 1.4 percentage points each quarter over the last year.
In the United Kingdom, where patterns of consumption are close to the European average, mobile voice usage should overtake fixed voice in the second quarter of 2008.
In France, mobile voice usage has already surpassed that of fixed voice, and keeps growing despite the widespread availability of practically free voice over broadband.
On the other hand, mobile voice is not expected to overtake fixed voice in the Italian market until the first quarter of 2009. The German market will not experience this phenomenon for about two years.
Portugal, having the lowest voice consumption in Western Europe, was the first country in which mobile overtook fixed, while Sweden, which has one of the highest, will be among the last to change, Analysys researchers say.
For mobile providers, price is the trick. Once wireless calling costs are low enough, users seem well able to act on the relative value-price perceptions wired voice and wireless represent. In many cases, those users show a strong preference for mobility.
No comments:
Post a Comment