Nice chart by GigaOm's Ryan Kim.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Comparing Mobile Wallet Providers
Nice chart by GigaOm's Ryan Kim.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
“Mobiles” are Mostly Used “Untethered”
About 68 percent of consumer mobile phone use occurs in the home, a study sponsored by AOL and BBDO has found. That, as much as anything, shows the growing importance of “untethered” access for mobile devices.
The study, conducted by research firm InsightsNow, shows that a focus on “mobile” devices actually requires understanding the role of untethered access, which in fact might already represent as much as half of all mobile operations on a smart phone.
The study segmented into seven distinct "mobile motivations" that encompass most mobile use:
a. Accomplish - managing activities and lifestyle to gain a sense of accomplishment
b. Socialize- active interaction with other people
c. Prepare - active planning in order to be prepared for upcoming activities
d.Me Time - seeking relaxation and entertainment in order to indulge oneself or pass the time
e. Discover - seeking news and information
f. Shop - focusing on finding a product or service
g.Express Myself -participating in passions and interests
“Me Time” is by far the biggest pasttime, accounting for almost half (46 percent) of all smart phone app and website activities, averaging 864 minutes per month per user, About 70 percent of those activities are “lean-back” experiences.
The study, conducted by research firm InsightsNow, shows that a focus on “mobile” devices actually requires understanding the role of untethered access, which in fact might already represent as much as half of all mobile operations on a smart phone.
The study segmented into seven distinct "mobile motivations" that encompass most mobile use:
a. Accomplish - managing activities and lifestyle to gain a sense of accomplishment
b. Socialize- active interaction with other people
c. Prepare - active planning in order to be prepared for upcoming activities
d.Me Time - seeking relaxation and entertainment in order to indulge oneself or pass the time
e. Discover - seeking news and information
f. Shop - focusing on finding a product or service
g.Express Myself -participating in passions and interests
“Me Time” is by far the biggest pasttime, accounting for almost half (46 percent) of all smart phone app and website activities, averaging 864 minutes per month per user, About 70 percent of those activities are “lean-back” experiences.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
4G Retail Prices 20% Higher Than 3G: Can That Last?
Compared to 3G data pricing, 4G is around 20 percent higher than 3G for the equivalent data plan, according to ABI Research. Whether that will remain the case longer term is more debatable, ABI Research says.
“In South Korea, SK Telecom has cut its 4G pricing to remain competitive," ABI Research notes.
Their ‘LTE 62 Plan’ for smartphones used to be priced US$55.04 for 3 GB of data, but the monthly download quota has now been increased to 5 GB.
ABI Research has seen similar 4G mobile data quota and/or pricing revisions in Norway, Hong Kong, and the US,” said Jake Saunders, VP for forecasting at ABI Research.
According to ABI Research’s cross-country comparison of mobile data pricing, the world’s cheapest 4G data plan is currently on offer by CSL Hong Kong, which launched its 4G service in November 2011.
For 3G mobile data, the lowest tariff can be found in Singapore. Singapore’s M1 offers a 4 GB data plan for US$9.62.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
France Telecom Promises Higher LTE Prices
France Telecom CEO Stephane Richard says the coming Long Term Evolution 4G network will be priced at a premium to the 3G network. That isn’t terribly surprising. The established pricing model for fixed or mobile broadband access is that faster networks cost more than slower networks.
And since there is a relatively linear relationship between network speed and data consumption, as a rule, there will be a tendency for usage-based plans to cost more when customers are on faster networks.
Beyond that, service providers always have used “new features” or “new capabilities” as a rationale for higher retail prices. Aside from the fact that LTE is more bandwidth efficient, an advantage for carriers, LTE does feature lower latency, for example, an advantage for end users.
Also, as a practical matter, expensive networks, with high fixed costs, facing significant loss of current revenue, necessarily will look to price increases. Consumers of electricity and water services, for example, sometimes are exhorted to “reduce” use as a “green” effort, or to conserve resources. But if too many electricity or water customers really do so, then revenue for the suppliers drops, and they raise their prices.
So, in a real sense, the growing competition in the market, not just evolving product demand, also would force suppliers to make up revenue losses, somehow.
Executives of European carriers including Vodafone and Spain’s Telefonica say European regulators need to ease restrictions on consolidation to free up resources for investments into faster networks.
“There are hundreds of telecom operators in Europe while there are three or four in major markets like the U.S. and China,” said Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallete, Telefonica’s COO.
For all of those reasons, higher mobile broadband pricing is coming, as mobile service providers build 4G LTE networks.
And since there is a relatively linear relationship between network speed and data consumption, as a rule, there will be a tendency for usage-based plans to cost more when customers are on faster networks.
Beyond that, service providers always have used “new features” or “new capabilities” as a rationale for higher retail prices. Aside from the fact that LTE is more bandwidth efficient, an advantage for carriers, LTE does feature lower latency, for example, an advantage for end users.
Also, as a practical matter, expensive networks, with high fixed costs, facing significant loss of current revenue, necessarily will look to price increases. Consumers of electricity and water services, for example, sometimes are exhorted to “reduce” use as a “green” effort, or to conserve resources. But if too many electricity or water customers really do so, then revenue for the suppliers drops, and they raise their prices.
So, in a real sense, the growing competition in the market, not just evolving product demand, also would force suppliers to make up revenue losses, somehow.
Executives of European carriers including Vodafone and Spain’s Telefonica say European regulators need to ease restrictions on consolidation to free up resources for investments into faster networks.
“There are hundreds of telecom operators in Europe while there are three or four in major markets like the U.S. and China,” said Jose Maria Alvarez-Pallete, Telefonica’s COO.
For all of those reasons, higher mobile broadband pricing is coming, as mobile service providers build 4G LTE networks.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Clearwire May Delay LTE Network Build
Clearwire says it is evaluating its Long Term Evolution 4G network plans, to align spending with expected revenue, and "may elect to delay a portion of our deployment schedule accordingly."
In one sense, that is not helpful to Clearwire at a time when other mobile service providers are building their LTE networks as fast as they can. On the other hand, helpful or not, Clearwire cannot afford to spend more capital than it has access to, even if it would prefer to build faster.
Clearwire has said it will begin building the LTE network early in 2013 and have 5,000 LTE sites up by middle of 2013.
Clearwire had $1.2 billion in cash at the end of the second quarter and, based on its needs, had enough cash for "at least" the next 12 months. The company, which holds a large chunk of wireless airwave licenses, also has said it could sell assets to raise cash.
As a practical matter, Clearwire might ultimately wind up functioning as a "spot supplier" of additional LTE capacity in markets with heavy usage, rather than as a complete national network using only its own facilities.
That would not be an unusual pattern in the industry, where virtually no networks have network everywhere. Such a plan also would better match the capital Clearwire seems to have available.
In one sense, that is not helpful to Clearwire at a time when other mobile service providers are building their LTE networks as fast as they can. On the other hand, helpful or not, Clearwire cannot afford to spend more capital than it has access to, even if it would prefer to build faster.
Clearwire has said it will begin building the LTE network early in 2013 and have 5,000 LTE sites up by middle of 2013.
Clearwire had $1.2 billion in cash at the end of the second quarter and, based on its needs, had enough cash for "at least" the next 12 months. The company, which holds a large chunk of wireless airwave licenses, also has said it could sell assets to raise cash.
As a practical matter, Clearwire might ultimately wind up functioning as a "spot supplier" of additional LTE capacity in markets with heavy usage, rather than as a complete national network using only its own facilities.
That would not be an unusual pattern in the industry, where virtually no networks have network everywhere. Such a plan also would better match the capital Clearwire seems to have available.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
Combined T-Mobile USA, MetroPCS Spectrum Holdings
This map of combined spectrum holdings of a merged T-Mobile USA and MetroPCS suggests that in a few markets--Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Boston, Detroit, Atlanta and Miami--the new company will have more than 70 MHz of capacity.
The impact elsewhere will be helpful, but less startling. MetroPCS has very good coverage in 14 city networks, including New York, San Francisco, and much of Florida,
Here's how AT&T once described its spectrum position, compared to other carriers, on a national basis (there are many local variations). The older AT&T chart does show why the merger is a big deal. Look at where T-Mobile USA stands, by itself. The MetroPCS spectrum, in some areas, is much larger.
The impact elsewhere will be helpful, but less startling. MetroPCS has very good coverage in 14 city networks, including New York, San Francisco, and much of Florida,
Here's how AT&T once described its spectrum position, compared to other carriers, on a national basis (there are many local variations). The older AT&T chart does show why the merger is a big deal. Look at where T-Mobile USA stands, by itself. The MetroPCS spectrum, in some areas, is much larger.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
Roaming Revenue $80 Billion in 2017
Not all revenue earned in the global communications business, either fixed or mobile, comes from retail end users. Some portion of revenues comes from business partners, especially other service providers. In the global mobile business, roaming revenue paid by one carrier to another averages about eight percent of total revenue.
A new report from Juniper Research values mobile roaming revenues at more than $80 billion by 2017, compared to over $46 billion in 2012. Those revenues are driven by increasing data usage, but lower per-unit revenues.
Historically, roaming revenues have been earned by out of region mobile service providers who allow another network’s users access to the local network when those users are out of region. The new change is that customer access to out of region data networks, either mobile or Wi-Fi, is generating roaming revenue for the out of region suppliers.
A new report from Juniper Research values mobile roaming revenues at more than $80 billion by 2017, compared to over $46 billion in 2012. Those revenues are driven by increasing data usage, but lower per-unit revenues.
Historically, roaming revenues have been earned by out of region mobile service providers who allow another network’s users access to the local network when those users are out of region. The new change is that customer access to out of region data networks, either mobile or Wi-Fi, is generating roaming revenue for the out of region suppliers.
Gary Kim has been a digital infra analyst and journalist for more than 30 years, covering the business impact of technology, pre- and post-internet. He sees a similar evolution coming with AI. General-purpose technologies do not come along very often, but when they do, they change life, economies and industries.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
-
We have all repeatedly seen comparisons of equity value of hyperscale app providers compared to the value of connectivity providers, which s...
-
It really is surprising how often a Pareto distribution--the “80/20 rule--appears in business life, or in life, generally. Basically, the...
-
One recurring issue with forecasts of multi-access edge computing is that it is easier to make predictions about cost than revenue and infra...
