Tiered Mobile Pricing Hasn't Had Any Repercussions, Yet

AT&T's move to new tiered mobile data plans does not seem to have provoked much consumer protest, or much apparent change in usage, content provider strategies or even competitive responses from other wireless providers. That doesn't mean there will not be impact, though.

Content providers, application developers and OEM manufacturers have sought to provide the richest multimedia streams, the most interactive apps and the most eye-popping displays and capabilities to consumers, with no concern for impact on bandwidth consumption.

For some consumers, bandwidth consumption will start to become an issue. That might ultimately force some rethinking of device and application design, and some rethinking of business models and partnerships. Firms that

expected to stream video to end users, either for free or as subscription services, might have to think about how bandwidth caps now will potentially affect those business models.

On the other hand, some content providers might have new incentives to figure out ways they can work with mobile service providers in ways that take away bandwidth concerns.

Some might find a partnership, where content provider and access provider share revenue, might go a long ways toward creation of new "video service plans" that allow consumption outside any existing caps.

Yankee Group :: Research Report

Cheaper Cable TV Packages?

Don't hold your breath, but U.S. cable executives might be quietly mulling creation of more-affordable packages that cost something more like $25 a month to 40 a month than $80 a month, Reuters reports.

There would have to be quite a bit of negotiating with the cable programming networks, which typically want the broadest possible carriage they can get. Offering more-affordable tiers of service necessarily would limit carriage of many channels.

Some Wall Street analysts reportedly have warned the cable industry could harm itself by continuing to raise prices well ahead of the rate of inflation. Of course, some will speculate that the floating of "affordable new tiers" might also be a negotiating tactic by cable operators in advance of contract renewal talks.

Both cable operators and programmers are aware that most people watch a dozen or fewer channels, no matter how many are available. The problem is that it is not the same 12, from one person to the next.

Cable companies, networks mull smaller TV bundles | Reuters

Mobile Voice Will Keep Growing, Despite Pressures

Though growth will slow at some point, it does not immediately appear that mobile voice revenue on a global basis, at least, is in any danger of serious erosion, according to the Yankee Group. Average revenue per user is dropping, but the number of users is growing.

By some estimates, the world has added one billion new wireless customers in just 18 months, for example.

Global average revenue per user will fall from U.S.$14.28 in 2009 to U.S.$11.38 in 2014, Yankee Group predicts.

But paid minutes of use will offset most of those ARPU declines.

Yankee Group :: Research Report

How Long Does it Take to Add 1 Billion Mobile Subs?

It has taken just 18 months for one billion new subscribers to get mobile services. There now are five billion global mobile subscribers, according Wireless Intelligence.

The firm predicts that the six billion mark will be achieved in the first half of 2012. Mobile penetration on a global basis now is 74 percent, compared to 60 percent at when there were only four billion subscribers. The highest penetrated region is Western Europe on 130 percent, while the lowest is Africa on 52 percent. Eastern Europe (123 percent) is the only other global region to have passed 100 percent mobile penetration.

Wireless Intelligence — Analysis — Global mobile connections surpass 5 billion milestone

65% of Mobile Users "Text;" 30% Download Apps

About 65 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device in May 2010, up 1.4 percentage points compared to the prior three month period, while browsers were used by 32 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers (up 2.3 percentage points).

About 30 percent of the mobile audience downloaded apps, an increase of 2.1 percentage points from the previous period. Accessing of social networking sites or blogs also saw significant growth, increasing 2.6 percentage points to 21 percent of mobile subscribers.

comScore Reports May 2010 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share - comScore, Inc

49 Million U.S. Smartphones in Service

49.1 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in May 2010, up 8.1 percent from the corresponding February period.

Research in Motion was the leading mobile smartphone platform in the U.S. with 41.7 percent share of U.S. smartphone subscribers, followed by Apple with 24.4 percent share and Microsoft with 13.2 percent.

Google saw significant growth during the period, up four percentage points to 13 percent of smartphone subscribers, while Palm rounded out the top five with 4.8 percent.

comScore Reports May 2010 U.S. Mobile Subscriber Market Share - comScore, Inc

Cable Chills in Advance of Potential Net Neutrality Ruling

Regulation has a huge impact on communications and multi-channel video entertainment companies (telcos and cable), and the reason is quite simple: regulation creates, conditions or damages the business opportunity. Lots of observers would predict that imposition of strong network neutrality rules, by limiting growth options, would have clear negative impact on equity values, ability to raise capital and ultimately revenue, cash flow and profit.

It appears some of the damage is caused simply by raising the specter of such changes. "'The FCC has voted itself a loaded gun, pointed it at the carriers (cable and telco alike) and then promised not to shoot," said Craig Moffett, Bernstein Research analyst.

'What is clear ... is that we are now facing a protracted period -- likely years long -- of enormous uncertainty,' Moffett said.

"The bull case for cable stocks is a simple one," Moffett wrote. "Cable wins the broadband wars. But the prospect for broadband price regulation cuts to the heart of that thesis."

Comcast, Cablevision stocks fall on cloudy outlook The Ratings Game - MarketWatch