Mobile Broadband

There is a lot going on in mobile broadband. I plan to cover that over the next few weeks. But first, off on hoilday for a week.

Some issues:

• Enablers: IP (i.e. 4G), VAS (such as LBS and payments for consumers, full access through laptop cards for workers), data tariffs coming down. Is the data over service revenues fianally taking off (settling above 20% at AT&T, Verizon and KPN)?
• Per IP: the Broadband Incentive Problem.
• MTA: comparing minutes of use in Europe and the US reveals that there is a lot of price elasticity.
• Fixed line replacement? (think 16d)
• Outsourcing, network sharing and separation to further lower costs.
• New entrants: Nokia, Apple, Google, Yahoo!
• Offloading (that's whta it is, no more!): mobile TV, femtocells.
• 4G Standards war: LTE, WiMAX (and Gaiacomm?).

MOBILE DATA://Operators into search?

The Telegraph reports that Vodafone, Orange, Telefonica, T-Mobile, Hutchison, Telecom Italia and AT&T plan a Google/Yahoo! rival for the mobile environment.

One may hope this isn't true. First, Google and Yahoo! have algorithms and advertiser networks that are hard to replicate. Second, mobile operators can demand a large slice of the pie, possibly 80-90%. Why such an expensive and non-core effort, just to get to the other 10%?

Possibly these efforts are aimed at something else, like standardisation, security and spam.