Telecom Lead Asia: Will Indian mobile operators – Airtel, Idea Cellular, Tata Teleservices, Vodafone, Aircel and Reliance Communications offer true unlimited mobile data plans?
If they are ready to follow American operators Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile USA — who betting on unlimited data to win market share against their larger rivals, there is a strong and immediate way to ensure better RoI from mobile broadband Capex.
Several Indian mobile operators do not offer true unlimited mobile data plans that allow customization, speed guarantees, or sharing of data on family plans for multiple devices, etc. Or these unlimited mobile data plans come with a heavy price.
It is high time for Indian telecom operators to invest heavily into their 2G, 3G and 4G networks. With the current speed, Indian mobile users will not achieve better customer satisfaction.
Akamai Technologies reported that average connection speed for Indian mobile broadband users increased 2.5 percent q-o-q to slightly above 1.0 Mbps in the third quarter of 2012.
However, average peak connection speeds grew 9.3 percent to 8 Mbps from last quarter. On y-o-y, the speed increased 39 percent.
The global average connection speed decreased by approximately seven percent between the second and third quarters of 2012 to 2.8 Mbps.
South Korea has the highest average connection speed at 14.7 Mbps. Japan (10.7 Mbps) and Hong Kong (8.9 Mbps) rounded out the top three countries for average connection speed in the quarter.
Strategy Analytics says over 50 percent of US smartphone owners who say they have unlimited data showed interest in plans that allow customization, speed guarantees, or sharing of data on family plans for multiple devices.
On Thursday, a survey by iPass and MobileIron said IT is concerned about rising mobility costs and feeling frustration and loss of control over Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). The majority of survey respondents (57 percent) thought their mobile data roaming costs would rise in 2013, with eight (8) percent saying they’ll rise more than 25 percent.
Competing with Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile USA, AT&T and Verizon Wireless are sweetening their tiered data plans with unlimited voice and text bundles, no extra fees for tethering, as well as data share across multiple devices.
In the US, UK, and China, 60 percent or more of smartphone owners show interest in monitoring data use in real-time on their device while over half say they would like to be able to customize their plans.
Susan Welsh de Grimaldo, director, Mobile Broadband Opportunities at Strategy Anaytics, says the operator who is first to market with new user-friendly capabilities for personalizing mobile plans, including premium options for guaranteed speed, may win in this next wave of mobile life.
While operators with relatively empty new 4G networks may be able to sustain unlimited data as a value proposition for a short time, they may not be targeting the real pain points among consumers or networks.
In the UK, Three UK and T-Mobile (UK) are betting on unlimited data, while EE is using its 4G LTE speed advantage with unlimited voice/text and free tethering. Vodafone’s response is a “Vodafone Data Test Drive” with three months of unlimited data to help consumers explore their smartphone’s capabilities and learn their true data needs on a tiered, capped plan.
