On May 27, we kicked off the 2009 series of Mobile Minute webinars with “Mobile Data Caps: Can Carriers Profitably Control Data Usage?” This event – led by FierceWireless as part of its FierceLive! webinar program – drew 365 registrations and 173 unique live visitors from Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Latin America, the U.S., and Canada.

Webinar panelists included (from left to right below) John Jackson, vice president of Research at CCS Insight and former vice president of the mobile and wireless practice at Yankee Group; Larry Socher, global lead for the Network Offering Group at Accenture; and Adrian Hall, chief marketing officer at Bytemobile.

FierceWireless Executive Editor Lynnette Luna moderated the panel.

John Jackson led off with the assertion that data pricing is a dire concern – ‘flat and getting flatter’. He argued that while dramatic growth in mobile data traffic will continue, network operators cannot profitably grow their data business with the current generation of network technologies. Although many consider Long-Term Evolution (LTE) the ‘default panacea’, it will not meet all of the complex and interdependent functional requirements for keeping up with data demand. According to Jackson, carriers have a ‘long-term identity crisis’ – value-added content provider versus bit pipe – that will require much more than network cost reduction to resolve.

Larry Socher of Accenture addressed future drivers of mobile revenue growth for operators – new data and entertainment applications, convergence and the ‘always connected’ lifestyle of consumers, and interconnectivity of mobile and fixed devices. He stressed the importance of integrated value-added services in customer retention and highlighted the emergence of vertical applications – e.g., on-board automotive – enabled by lower-cost mobile devices with ubiquitous connectivity.

Adrian Hall presented the Bytemobile perspective on the discussion, emphasizing the forces of convergence, personalization, openness, and cost control in moving mobile data forward. He cited a seminal finding of an October 2008 survey of industry senior executives conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit – that charging variable prices for bandwidth consumption at different times of day will be an important future source of revenue for operators – and industry research on the impact of uncontrolled data usage on operators’ profitability. Hall closed with a quick summary of the business benefits of the Bytemobile product portfolio, referencing specific points made earlier by Jackson and Socher.

Lynnette Luna referred to the webinar in an article in the May 28 edition of FierceBroadbandWireless and the June 1 edition of FierceWireless.

Following the panel presentations, Luna took selected questions from the online participants. In addition, the audience was polled on a multiple-choice question, which appears below with a chart of the answers selected by percentage of the total respondents.

The majority selection of differentiated service packaging and pricing provides further validation of the value proposition of Bytemobile applications such as OSN WebGate™ Service and Media Fidelity™ Suite Media Optimization in enabling operators to control and monetize data usage as traffic continues to grow.

Please note that our next webinar – “Making a Better Mobile Browser”, also led by FierceWireless – is scheduled for June 18. You can register here.

-Jaishree Subramania

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The scene in Las Vegas was a bit quieter than in past years, with approximately 1,200 exhibiting companies and 40,000 attendees from across the wireless industry – broadband convergence, enterprise networks, mobile advertising, social networking, mobile entertainment.

While the usual line-up of high-profile product announcements from companies like Apple, Yahoo!, Nokia, and Palm were few and far between, this year’s event was focused on forward-looking innovations and trends.

On a positive note, despite the global economic crisis, the future looks bright for the wireless industry. Dr. Robert Roche, CTIA’s vice president of Research, presented CTIA’s year-end 2008 survey which showcased the continued growth of the mobile ecosystem. To listen to the podcast, click here.

Intelligent transportation was the theme of Day One. Combining mobile technology with transport infrastructures is shaping the future of managing vehicles, loads, and routes to improve safety and reduce vehicle wear, transportation times, and fuel consumption. Dominique Bonte, practice director of Telematics & Navigation for ABI Research, presented cutting-edge developments in the wireless space that are greatly enhancing productivity and efficiency in the enterprise and changing the way we do business around the world.

Mobile health followed as the theme of Day Two. Mobile technology is beginning to reshape the global healthcare landscape. Dr. Jay M. Bernhardt, director of the National Center for Health Marketing at the Center for Disease Control, enlightened the community on this emerging trend and the enormous value proposition for wireless applications in the healthcare industry.

A hot topic throughout CTIA Wireless was environmental responsibility. While going green is an emerging trend across all industries, it began to take hold in wireless at this year’s conference. Various ecosystem players discussed the ways in which they are using alternative energy sources to create more environmentally-friendly communications networks. The Honorable Al Gore took the keynote stage on Day Three to talk about the far-reaching implications of going green for the industry, the economy and the environment.

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In the last post (July 29), we summarized the changing dynamics of the mobile ecosystem. To recap, we are witnessing two strong phenomena today. On one hand, we have a combination of explosive data growth and declining data plan rates. On the other hand, we see the mobile ecosystem power structure shifting from network operators to other ecosystem players like device manufacturers (Apple, Nokia, Samsung) and big internet brands (Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!).

Operators’ key to maintaining power and relevance in the new mobility world order lies in identifying their key assets and maximizing the monetization potential of these assets.
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The year 2008 has seen a surge of mobile data in the marketplace. Wireless network operators worldwide are reporting record growth in data traffic. Most operators in Europe have reported an eightfold increase from 2006, with some reporting a three- to fourfold increase from 2007. The phenomenon has also occurred in North America, with tier-one operators reporting data traffic growth of 10% per month. (more…)

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