Saturday, December 28, 2019

Ridesharing and Mobility Have been Disruptive Attacks on Markets

Ridesharing represents what many consider disruptive competition, and there is some evidence for that outcome. Welcome to the world telecom providers and internet service providers live in. 

At Los Angeles International Airport,  shared van rides plunged by 66 percent in the first half of 2019 compared with the first half of 2016, the first full year that Uber and Lyft operated there, according to city data. 

Trips on FlyAway buses also sank by 66 percent over the same period, while taxi trips fell 39 percent. Use of courtesy shuttles to car rental facilities, parking lots and hotels saw a 20 percent decline. The number of Uber and Lyft trips more than doubled in the same time period. 

Many would agree that mobile phone service has been disruptive for fixed network voice services, even more so than VoiP or messaging. mobile surpassed fixed subscriptions globally in 2002, the International Telecommunications Union says. 

In the U.S. market, for example, consumer spending on fixed network voice dropped from about 45 percent of “telephone” spending in 2007 to less than 20 percent by 2017. Mobility spending conversely grew from about 55 percent in 2007 to more than 80 percent by 2017. 

Some estimate average spending by U.S. families of about $40 to $60 per user, per month, an amount that almost does not register as a percentage of total household spending. In Europe, communications spending altogether is about 2.4 percent of household spending. U.S. households might spend two percent of total on communications. 

In fact, communications spending represents a small enough category that the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics does not track it.  

In Canada, in just one year between 2015 and 2016, fixed line voice spending fell nine percent, while mobile spending was up six percent, for example. 



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