National Broadband Plan Suggests Wireless Future

There are some fairly-significant implications one might draw from the Federal Communications Commission's proposal for National Broadband Policy. First of all, the plan explicitly relies on private capital and private firms to get the job done.

There are some important tweaks to funding of services rural high-cost areas, and a bit of new spending in other areas. But those are a gloss. The heavy lifting clearly is going to have to be done--or left undone--by private capital and existing service providers.

People can continue to advocate for, and support, alternative ways for getting things done, but there is at this moment no sense that radical changes in industry structure are possible. Some might argue that the country would be better off with a robust wholesale infrastructure, retail provider model, but that is not on the table.

The other really-significant implication is that the future will belong to wireless. In fact, the really-big proposal is to reallocate 500 megahertz of wireless spectrum away from TV broadcasting and to wireless communications.

In fact, though any of us might grumble that prices are too high and speeds too low, the FCC's own data suggests that "access" actually is not a problem, even restricting the definition to fixed networks.

The FCC says 78 percent of U.S. homes already have access to two broadband service providers. About four percent have a choice of three providers. Another 13 percent have at least one provider. Only five percent of homes do not have at least one fixed services provider. And, again, those estimates do not include two satellite broadband providers and between one to four mobile broadband providers as well.

Separately, the FCC notes that 77 percent of U.S. households already can buy service from three wireless broadband providers. Another 12 percent of homes have a choice of two mobile broadband providers, while none percent of homes have at least one mobile broadband service provider. Only two percent of U.S. homes cannot buy mobile broadband service.

For a variety of reasons, the FCC plan implicitly acknowledges that the current fixed broadband duopoly is about as good as it will get, and that, going forward, mobile broadband is the new battleground.

The FCC probably is completely right in that assessment. Mobility is the one industry segment that would have relatively little trouble attracting lots of new capital investment, and mobility is the one segment of the whole communications business that is exploding globally, not just in the United States.

Mobility is the segment where innovation already is the fastest, where new applications and devices are proliferating most rapidly, and where consumer interest and new adoption is highest.

Like it or not, the FCC always works within a political context. It has to work within the constraints of what is possible, and the emphasis on wireless is a clear reflection of those constraints. The FCC is smart enough to understand that, so long as private capital and private firms must drive the bulk of national investment and service provision, the agency must work within the constraints of the capital markets, which clearly signal that the perceived upside, and therefore investment interest, lie in wireless and over-the-top applications, not more wired infrastructure.

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Now this is truly clever, really.

Google Nexus One: Lessons to be Learned?

New sales data on the Google Nexus One smartphone has most observers concluding that Google has failed with its launch. Flurry notes that the Nexus One has shipped about 135,000 units in 74 days, where Apple shipped a million iPhone units in its first 74 days while the Verizon Droid sold a bit more than a million units in its first 74 days.

"Google Nexus One may go down as a grand, failed experiment or one that ultimately helped Google learn something that will prove important in years to come," Flurry notes.

But the sales curve might suggest something about the distribution channel more than anything else. Droid's sales suggest it is not the Android operating system which accounts for the low sales.

More likely the low sales are the result of a combination of changes in the typical distribution system. Most users buy their devices from carriers, most often preferring a discounted handset with an accompanying contract.

Google has been selling only unlocked devices, and only from a Web site, at full retail price. One could have predicted that would not be popular.

Also, Google initially started out with email support only. Given the history of consumer unhappiness with mobile service provider customer service, that also could have been predicted. When people have a problem, they want to talk to a live person, and they want to talk "now."

Also, though some policy advocates have been loudly calling for sales of unlocked devices as a consumer choice value, most consumers care less about unlocked devices and more about customer support. In an unlocked device scenario, it isn't clear whether it is Google, the handset vendor or the carrier that has the issue causing the problem.

Consumers may have issues with contracts, but they also prefer lower phone prices and the assurance that if there is a problem, the retailer will take responsibility.

What Google's experiment mostly shows is the value and power of an integrated distribution model, with clear responsibility and good customer service support. Unlocked devices do not generally resonate, and neither do full price handsets, especially when customer experience after sale is so poor.

Flurry post

Except for Wireless, National Broadband Plan Much Ado About Almost Nothing

Oddly enough, the proposed National Broadband Plan is light on new spending and puts primary emphasis on wireless, while mixing in a bit of a grab bag of existing and vexing voice-related issues. The goal of getting 100 Mbps service to 100 million U.S. homes by 2020 appears to be just that, a "goal," not a requirement.

Some people would call that a mistake, but the Federal Communications Commission is not unmindful of some basic facts, including the requirement that the investment heavy lifting must be done by private industry, and that means raising lots of investment capital from private sources.

Those sources already have made clear their fears that too much tinkering with broadband regulations, especially regulating broadband access as a common carrier service, will choke off investment.

The single-biggest substantive proposal is the plan to make 500 megahertz of new spectrum available for wireless communications by reallocating spectrum presently used by TV broadcasters.

It might be close to heresy, but if you look out 10 years, the business case for investing lots of money in fiber to home facilities is starting to look worse, not better. Many policy advocates call for much-higher speeds and lower costs at the same time. That's not a convincing scenario for investors who would have to take a chance on loaning money in that sort of market.

Also, to the extent that entertainment video has been a big part of the business case, not many observers would believe the future is as bright as the past has been. With voice also under pressure, it may not make as much sense as it once did to invest too aggressively in fixed broadband. Broadband still is the foundation service for fixed networks in the future.

But that is a different issue from the separate issue of how much investment ought to be made, because it is unclear how much users are willing to pay for really-fast service, or how much incremental revenue might actually be created by new applications that require really-fast broadband.

$17.5 Mobile App Sales in 2012

Mobile App Stores: A Closer Look from Plugg Conference on Vimeo.

A study conducted by mobile analyst Chetan Sharma and sponsored by GetJar suggests the market for paid mobile apps should grow to $17.5 billion within the next three years, implying a value greater than CD-based apps in 2012, when apps sold on physical media are projected to be $13.8 billion.

App downloads will leap from slightly more than seven billion in 2009 to nearly 50 billion in 2012, representing an annual growth rate of 92 percent, the study also suggests.

According to the study, by 2012, off-deck paid-for apps will be the biggest revenue generator, accounting for almost 50 per cent of all apps revenue.

In 2009, on-deck apps available from mobile operators accounted for over 60 percent of all apps revenue, but this will fall significantly to just under 23 percent by 2012.

The average app selling price for apps in North America was $1.09, significantly higher compared to that in developing markets such as South America ($0.20) and Asia ($0.10).

According to the study, revenue opportunities in Europe are set to grow from $1.5 billion in 2009 to $8.5 billion in 2012, while in North America the figure will rise from around $2.1 billion to around $6.7 billion in 2012.

Currently, apps are most popular in Asia, with the region accounting for 37 percent of global downloads (free and paid) in 2009. North American downloaders spend the most money on apps, accounting for over 50 percent of global app revenue.

Advertising and transactions are a growing portion of the way applications are monetized, though purchase fees will represent most of the revenue for the near term.

Recession Not the Issue, Structural Is What Challenges Telcos

The global telecom industry performed pretty much as it always does during the recent recession. Basically, revenue growth continued at low single digits, overall. As always is the case, some industry segments fared better than others, but consumer demand for communications and entertainment video services was steady.

Some might wonder whether some clear signs of consumer frugality will affect growth rates for some time to come, but even that is not the big issue.

The big issue is that wired communications is an industry with a cost structure too high for expected revenues over time, so cost cutting must continue and network operations must become even more efficient than they have, up to this point.

Ovum researchers point out that "the economic downturn hasn’t resulted in the downward pressure on telco top lines that many expected."

But Ovum researchers also point out that "revenue growth is in decline for many mature market operators, and slowing for those in emerging markets."

“Market saturation, increased competition and regulatory intervention on roaming and termination rates won’t disappear just because the economy picks up”, says Ovum Principal Analyst Clare McCarthy.

Telcos are cutting operating expenses and capital investment. They are also accelerating employee early retirement programs and stockpiling cash. Many telcos in fact are emerging from the downturn with healthier balance sheets than when they entered, as well as significant cash balances, Ovum says.

Covad Launches Ethernet Access Services Nationwide

Covad Communications Company is launching nationwide Ethernet access services in mid-April.

Designed especially to support business-class, real-time applications like Voice over IP, video, gaming, virtual private networks and video conferencing, at speeds from 1.5 Mbps to 35 Mbps out of more than 4,000 central offices reaching approximately 10 million businesses nationwide, the company says.

Covad will offer quality of service and class of service features and are backed by service level agreements.

“What will differentiate this product in the market are the integrated QoS and CoS options that give our partners immense flexibility in optimizing network performance based on their application requirements,” says Patrick Bennett, president and chief executive officer at Covad.

Covad began testing Ethernet services on a technical level with a limited offering in selected markets last year.