A Broadband comparison site has claimed that mobile broadband will soon be bundled with standard contracts – and this could occur as early as 2009.
If the current rate of price-cutting continues, mobile broadband will soon be perceived as free of charge, according to Top 10 Broadband.
Using “fixed line phone + ADSL” packages as an analogy, they believe broadband modems will be thrown in for free with mobile phone packages. In another analogy, they say that the uptake of mobile broadband (dongles) is at the same sort of rate as it was for mobile phones in the early 1990s.
In an interesting stat, the site looks at Vodafone’s mobile broadband package, at £15 per month, and comments: “Sixty-five per cent cheaper, four times faster and with three times the download allowance than two years ago”
On the flipside, it is also argued by Ovum that fixed line broadband isn’t going anywhere soon – factors such as existing traction with (overlapping) subscribers, and high-bandwidth apps (such as IPTV) are going to ensure that demand for fixed-line services remain – at least in the UK.
Other markets (such as Austria, apparently), may play out differently – due to high capacity mobile networks which have great coverage, and also (relatively) expensive fixed-line services, mobile broadband suddenly looks very attractive to users.
This kind of bundling of services (be it on a cost or features basis) is going to become increasingly common in the next 12 months – already all of the UK MNOs are making strides in this area (notably O2, who I have my contract with). It’s going to be extremely interesting to see who can put together the most attractive offer for users….
[Via: vnunet.com]