Slowing Mobile Broadband Uptake?

Mobile broadband services and revenues include several different revenue components. Data access for smartphones is one driver.

But so are broadband "dongles" and "cards" that allow users to use 3G or 4G networks with their PCs, notebooks, netbooks or tablets.

Then there are a growing range of uses for specialized sensor networks, e-book readers and other devices that might use mobile broadband access occasionally.

It appears dongle revenues continue to climb, but possibly at a slower rate compared to 2008, at least in some markets. Yankee Group researchers say growth is slowing in France, for example.


Comparing the second quarter of 2010 with the second quarter of  2009, growth rates were 6.5 percent and 22.4 percent respectively. "We see the same trend if we compare performance during the first half of 2010 and the second half of 2009," says Declan Lonergan, Yankee Group analyst.

Orange, Vodafone, Telecom Italia, TeliaSonera, Telekom Austria and KPN results showed the same trend.

During the first half of 2010, mobile broadband users increased by less than 12 percent. Even allowing for seasonal buying patterns, this compares unfavorably with a growth rate of 42 percent during the second half of 2009, Lonergan says.