With thanks to 3G technology and higher end phones being more accessible to consumers usage of mobile internet across Europe is experiencing massive growth according to a research report commissioned by the mobile operator body - GSM Association (GSMA).
The EU's mobile data market grew by 40% last year and to €7 Billion, with 3G users doubling to 112 million in the year to April 2008.
The GSMA attributed falling costs of 3G services, handsets and 3G enabled laptops to driving the market. Costs are perhaps the most important factor to uptake of next generation services as more and more operators introduce bundled data packages and flat rate deals the association also claim that competition from WIFI is helping to keep prices down.
Tom Phillips, chief government and regulatory affairs officer of the GSMA, has said of the rising use of mobile internet "We expect prices to continue to fall as operators further innovate around tariffs and more and more Europeans use these services as a part of their everyday lives."
According to the research, the average retail price of data roaming in the EU fell by 25 percent in the year to April 2008, andthe cost of text message roaming services dropped 18 percent in the same period. Finally, data roaming traffic in the EU grew by 75 percent in the same period.
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Tags: gsma, mobile internet, mobile data pricing
The EU commissioner has handed down a deadline to operators to come up with credible data pricing or face being regulated.
The move which will be welcomed by content owners, mobile marketing agencies and broadcasters who have been held back in their use and development of mobile as a medium largely due to inflated costs of data consumption.
Although not relating specifically to costs of mobile internet - type services this is certainly a step in the right direction.
With the date set out as the 1st of July 2008, europena operators will now have to become realistic about what they are asking their customers to pay for using mobile internet and other data services.
A key area of focus are data charges paid by mobile users for roaming both in the retail and wholesale market.
Watch this space!
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Tags: data pricing, network operators, eu commissioner
I was incredibly impressed this week and quietly pleased with my little handset when I bought a book on the train home from work. Amazon.com has just gone live on 3's "Planet 3" portal and now anyone who is already registered and has an account with Amazon can purchase items directly from their mobile. So, finally we are starting to see mobile payments happening securely and I'm sure that this will be the first of many. So encouraged was I, that this morning on my way to work I toiled to get Ticketmaster.ie working on my mobile - I was frantic that I may miss out on Kanye West tickets - the latest in a string of Phoenix Park gigs scheduled to take place this October.
Anyway it seems that ticketmaster do not have a mobile ready site yet (much like the rest of the country :( ) and so I had to contend with reading from the standard (online) website. This all worked fine and thanks to 3's all you can eat package it didn't cost me anything. I got as far as buying the tickets when my journey ended abruptly at the word verifiction tool, which usually proves that you are a human being. Anyway, it wasn't deeply disheartening but it did mean that I had to run to my desk computer to get the tickets before they were sold out! I bought my tickets via the standard route and I suggest you do the same for the minute. Tickets are still on sale for the Kanye West concert last I checked.
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Tags: mobile payments, ticketmaster
Mobile operator 3 have been receiving significant publicity throughout the past few weeks with changes to its pricing model and the announcement that the company has grown its subscriber base to 150,000. At present market leaders Vodafone possess 47% share of the market, 02 has just over 32% and Meteor almost 18%. 3 are yet to feature in the rankings as the country's fourth network.
Robert Finnegan was at the 3 store on Grafton St last week announcing that the operator would be cutting its EU roaming rates by 80% to set a new industry standard. In this bold move 3 will offer it's customers rates that are 33% lower that those set by the EU Commission earlier this year. By dramatically slashing their prices 3 hope to udercut all their rivals and gain further market share. The new rates will come into effect on the 31st of August allowing 3 customers to make calls anytime, anyplace in the EU for 39c per min and the operator will charge a meer 19c to receive calls. All other operators in the market currently charge 59c per min to make calls and 29c to receive.
These press grabbing moves by 3 will no doubt.help in their quest to become a larger player in the Irish market Especially now that the revenues of market leaders Vodafone and second player 02 are falling. The Sunday Business Post reported this week that average customer revenues have fallen here by 6% and are plummeting at a much greater speed than elsewhere in the EU. Robert Finnegan, 3's managing director, acknowledged this fact by saying that 02 and Vodafone are under real pressure. Despite the fact that 02 announced healthy 2nd quarter revenues and a 2% increase in its customer base there is no doubt that the market is saturated at 112% penetration. Any new growth for the operators is coming from customer churn and from Data services (mobile internet). These are 3's specialist subjects and it's fair to say that there will be plenty of business for the company too cash in on if they keep lowering rates!
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Tags: 3 ireland, roaming rates
O2 have announced their Irish earnings for the first quarter (up to March 31st) of 2007 and things are looking good! The mobile operator signed up 14,000 new customers (net) in the period, have realised growth of 13.7% in the post pay market and and increase in text messaging to 428 million in 3 months (13.8% increase).
Overall ARPU is down by .80 cent to €44.20. But the big news for me is that growth is most notable within the market for mobile data as it now accounts for 26% of revenue; last year this figure was 21.4%. clearly this proves that more and more people are interacting with the content (user generated and branded) on their phones and (hopefully) using mobile internet to do so!
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Last week was a busy one in the UK for network providers Vodafone and Orange as they faced the public with their new pricing models for mobile data in the UK. It felt for many people that the day would never come but gloriously it did!
So good news or bad news first? Lets start with the easiest...
Orange have followed in the steps of T - Mobile and 3 and announced daily browsing for £1. In the new pricing Orange pay monthly customers will be able to access the mobile internet for £1 a day, £5 for monthly and weekend browsing and £8 for monthly anytime browsing. Fair play to Orange I say! Also announced is that all monthly customers will be allowed free access to their own Orange World Homepage, news and favourites.
In the same breath Vodafone have also announced their great new value deal which is slightly more complicated.. So Vodafone will charge for the first 0.5 MB (Approx. 20 Pages) that you download and then give you the next 14.5 MB Free. This works out at about 85p per 15MBs. This is a decent offer, however it comes with a few exceptions.
- You may only download the free MBs over the same day i.e. Data cannot be carried over
- There is a charge of £1.70 per MB after the 15 MBs has been exceeded
- The 85p charge does not include Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) services such as Skype or Peer-to-Peer services such as Instant messenger. These services cost £1.70 per MB used and a 4p minimum charge for each data session
At least we are seeing some more movement towards all you can eat data pricing and flat rates overall but I wonder who will find it easier to advertise their new prices?!
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