AT&T Mobile Revenue Grows: It Has To

AT&T wireless data revenues, driven by messaging, Internet access, access to applications and related services, increased nearly $1 billion, or 23.9 percent, in the first quarter of 2011.

AT&T had its "best-ever first-quarter increase in total wireless subscribers," up two million to reach 97.5 million subscribers in service, with gains in every category, AT&T says.

AT&T also reported best-ever first-quarter smartphone sales of more than 5.5 million.

Those sorts of results ultimately will be important for many global mobile operators, given the gradual decline of voice revenues, and the importance of the voice revenue stream to total revenues, as this Yankee Group graphic indicates.

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Mobile Money Could Be 5% of Africa Mobile Operator Revenue in 2015

As of September 2010, at least 19 countries in sub-Saharan Africa and North Africa had "mobile money" service available, according to Pyramid Research, which forecasts that by the year 2015, revenue generated from mobile money services could represent around five percent of total operator revenue on the continent. 

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FCC Will Slam U.S. Broadband Again

The Federal Communications Commission is expected to report soon that broadband providers are not deploying services in a reasonable and timely way to all Americans. That wouldn't be surprising: the FCC said so in 2010, and it is hard to see what could have changed in just a year.

That predictably will be irritating to most service providers, who have been steadily upgrading broadband facilities almost across the board, using 4G wireless, DOCSIS upgrades and more fiber deployments at a steady clip over the last year.

Comcast, the largest provider of cable internet in the country, just announced that is provides 40 million residential homes the ability to buy 105 Mbps service. See http://www.comcast.com/About/PressRelease/PressReleaseDetail.ashx?PRID=1067.

Verizon and lots of other cable companies also have been selling 50 Mbps service for a couple of years, at least. The issue is not "availability" in a growing number of cases, but "purchasing." Some observers might argue that the prices charged for either 50 Mbps or 100 Mbps service are "too high." But that is a different matter than claiming such access is not available.

Lots of people make rational choices to buy fixed-line service at lower speeds, say 10 Mbps to 20 Mbps, as a better value-price proposition.

Also, U.S. subscribers have access to multiple national and regional wireless services running at fourth-generation speeds. Some observers likewise will object that these wireless offerings also are "too slow." But some observers are going to see a growing disconnect between what the FCC claims is the case, and what generally-available offers suggest.

FCC poised to give broadband deployment a failing grade

Loopt introduces location-based Q&A

Loopt, a provider of location-based services, today announced "Qs," a new feature that allows users to answer questions and see other user’s responses in any physical business location. People might want to answer questions such as "where is the best happy hour special right now?"

Most people, perhaps as few as one percent, actually create the content displayed by location-based services such as Loopt. The company hopes simple "question and answer" formats will encourage more people to contribute.

The company plans on releasing the new feature first in San Francisco and then roll out from city to city.

Loopt introduces location-based Q&A feature

2% of U.S. Employess Work From Home, 20 Million to 30 Million Telecommute Some of the Time

With gas prices breaking $4 a gallon in some markets, $5 in a few, it is inevitable there will be a new wave of thinking about the benefits of telecommuting or telework. About two percent  of the U.S. employee workforce (2.8 million people, not including the self employed or unpaid volunteers) work from home, according to the American Community Survey.

The Telework Research Network also estimates that 20 to 30 million employees currently work from home at least one day a week. About 15 to 20 million employees must travel at least part of the time for work. See this.

There also are 10 to 15 million home-based businesses and some three million full time home-based businesses.

Europe Still Thinks Market Can Handle "Net Neutraltiy" Issues

Oddly enough, some would note, the European Community continues to believe that market forces and competition will protect user experience better than new regulations, a stance at odds with the Federal Communications Commission.

Of course, it always is difficult to compare regulatory environments across national boundaries, as the concrete circumstances in each country can vary quite a lot. The EC generally features strong wholesale requirements compared to the U.S. market, for example, while the U.S. unusually features robust competition to dominant telcos from cable operators.

Generally speaking, robust wholesale arguably is the better approach, under circumstances where alternative facilities-based networks are not likely to develop.

RIM PlayBook: More Play Than Work

Research in Motion long has had a dominant role as an enterprise device supplier. But its new PlayBook tablet might not. You might wonder whether the PlayBook is an "enterprise-focused" tablet, or more a tablet that could be used in the enterprise.

Some early reviews are mixed on that score. Some say it is a bit inconvenient to get back to enterprise data, sometimes requiring a separate BlackBerry. That does offer a higher degree of data protection, but arguably isn’t convenient. Most tablet users today want their work email on it too, and more likely they won’t have a BlackBerry to connect.

Unlike other RIM devices, the PlayBook offers lower battery life than the competition, and less stability.

RIM PlayBook: More Play Than Work