Growth of mobile data usage will not stop revenue leakage

A STUDY published last week by ABI Research on mobile data usage, showed that by 2015 data usage in Western Europe and North America will increase at a compound annual growth rate of 42 per cent and 55 per cent respectively.

The research also outlined that in 2010, North American users are expected to consume 159 megabytes of data, up from 100 megabytes in 2009. While positive news for the industry as a whole, this expectant uplift is unlikely to be reflected in operator’s revenues.

Today industry reaction has reached us from Steven van Zanen, SVP marketing, mobile broadband, at mobile data specialists Acision. Van Zanen commented:

“In developed markets operators are already facing network congestion and unmatched peak traffic levels of data traffic. This is seriously impacting the quality of service and customer satisfaction levels. This predicted exponential growth of mobile data usage will further impact the bottom line as operators struggle to manage increased traffic and the unsustainable costs of all-you-can-eat mobile broadband packages. While operators deal with the challenge of managing the network as well as making a commitment to the recently announced 4G spectrum auctions, additional revenues for mobile data and related services are essential for the sustainability of the mobile broadband business model.

“To truly win the data versus revenue race, operators need to control cost through targeted data compression and by setting rules and policies for managing peak traffic. Quality of Experience for the consumer should be addressed through optimising media by device or bandwidth and prioritising cell traffic. Offering differentiated services for subscriber needs, such as roaming or family packages can also address APRU.”

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