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November 02, 2006
Lucent Study Finds Consumers, Enterprises, Willing to Pay 'Premium' for Mobile Broadband Services
By Patrick Barnard, Senior Web Editor, TMCnet
As a consumer, how much are you willing to pay for super fast, next generation wireless broadband services on your mobile phone? Thirty five dollars a month? Fifty dollars? Sixty dollars? More?
According to a recent study conducted by Lucent Technologies (News - Alert), consumers and businesses alike are willing to pay a “premium” for next-generation mobile high speed data services such as voice over IP (VoIP
), interactive video and video sharing. That’s good news for wireless service providers looking to roll out such services via the ever-advancing third-generation (3G) technologies, such as CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Revision A and HSPA (high-speed packet access). It means they stand a better chance to make a decent profit – and even with fierce competition, there’s a good chance that everyone can get a big slice of the tempting mobile broadband pie.
To arrive at this conclusion, Lucent (which, in case you didn’t know, develops the technologies needed to deliver such services) surveyed mobile phone users and enterprise decision makers to determine which applications and services would be of most interest to them. The research was conducted as part of Lucent’s ongoing primary market research program, which was established to help service providers identify new opportunities to grow revenue and reduce subscriber churn.
“Our mobile high speed data research identified consumer and enterprise services and applications that will enable service providers to ‘monetize’ - or obtain a return on - their investment in advanced mobile broadband infrastructure,” said John Marinho, Lucent Technologies corporate strategic marketing vice president, in a press release. “This research is an example of marketing tools that Lucent makes available to its customers through the Market Advantage Program.”
“Clearly identifying the most attractive next generation voice and data services is critical for service providers as their traditional businesses saturate and become increasingly competitive,” said Phil Marshall, vice president of Enabling Technologies at Yankee Group (News - Alert). “High performance network technologies like UMTS/HSPA and CDMA2000 are critical for the reliable delivery of these services.”
For the enterprise research, Lucent gauged interest in five applications - VoIP, video conferencing, communicate and collaborate, multicasting, and business continuity. Perhaps not surprisingly, VoIP, consisting of basic VoIP and IP PBX features, generated the most interest. This makes sense since the technology has been around for while (i.e. “battle-hardened”) and mobile VoIP has already been successfully trialed over a variety of network architectures.
The research also revealed that enterprises are willing to pay a premium for “a new cellular broadband service that offers higher speed, simultaneous voice and data along with reduced latency performance,” such as EV-DO Rev. A or HSPA. In fact, it found that “76 percent of companies currently using EV-DO Rev. 0 are willing to pay a premium over current spending for premium mobile broadband.” In addition, “34 percent of the companies that are not currently using EV-DO Rev. 0 are willing to pay $60 or more per user per month for premium mobile broadband.”
The survey also asked respondents about their level of interest in video calling, video sharing, multimedia ring-back, content sharing, and “share and discuss.” Of these, video calling and video sharing were the two most popular applications.
With regard to the consumer market, Lucent evaluated interest in video calling, video sharing, multimedia ring-back, content sharing, and “share and discuss.” Of these, video calling and sharing were the two most popular applications.
Furthermore, the research reveals that nearly half of all consumers are willing to pay extra for “a cellular broadband service with DSL-like speed and simultaneous voice and data.” As with businesses, the willingness to pay for premium mobile broadband data service was much greater for those who had already signed up for services beyond basic voice (i.e., SMS text messaging, video/TV, ringtones, games, Internet access, etc). According to the survey results, more than 60 percent of consumers who currently spend money for such services are willing to pay extra for premium mobile broadband – and 40 percent of those who do not have these additional services said they are willing to pay extra.
Of course, all of this works in Lucent’s favor, as well as the service providers now licking their chops for their hunk of the mobile broadband market. The press release announcing the survey results does not specify how much more, in terms of dollars, consumers and enterprises are willing to pay for specific mobile broadband services. Furthermore, competition will no doubt play the main role in what these services will cost in the future. The press release does not mention the sample size for the survey or what regions it was conducted in.
The press release concluded with the following “disclaimer:”
“The survey results are in no way a predictor of the Lucent’s future performance, and are meant only to identify potential market opportunities and estimates for the communications industry at large.”
For more information about Lucent Technologies’ Market Advantage Program, visit www.lucent.com/map.
For more information about Lucent in general, visit www.lucent.com.
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Patrick Barnard is Associate Editor for TMCnet and a columnist covering the telecom industry. To see more of his articles, please visit Patrick Barnard’s columnist page.
According to a recent study conducted by Lucent Technologies (News - Alert), consumers and businesses alike are willing to pay a “premium” for next-generation mobile high speed data services such as voice over IP (VoIP
), interactive video and video sharing. That’s good news for wireless service providers looking to roll out such services via the ever-advancing third-generation (3G) technologies, such as CDMA2000 1xEV-DO Revision A and HSPA (high-speed packet access). It means they stand a better chance to make a decent profit – and even with fierce competition, there’s a good chance that everyone can get a big slice of the tempting mobile broadband pie.To arrive at this conclusion, Lucent (which, in case you didn’t know, develops the technologies needed to deliver such services) surveyed mobile phone users and enterprise decision makers to determine which applications and services would be of most interest to them. The research was conducted as part of Lucent’s ongoing primary market research program, which was established to help service providers identify new opportunities to grow revenue and reduce subscriber churn.
“Our mobile high speed data research identified consumer and enterprise services and applications that will enable service providers to ‘monetize’ - or obtain a return on - their investment in advanced mobile broadband infrastructure,” said John Marinho, Lucent Technologies corporate strategic marketing vice president, in a press release. “This research is an example of marketing tools that Lucent makes available to its customers through the Market Advantage Program.”
“Clearly identifying the most attractive next generation voice and data services is critical for service providers as their traditional businesses saturate and become increasingly competitive,” said Phil Marshall, vice president of Enabling Technologies at Yankee Group (News - Alert). “High performance network technologies like UMTS/HSPA and CDMA2000 are critical for the reliable delivery of these services.”
For the enterprise research, Lucent gauged interest in five applications - VoIP, video conferencing, communicate and collaborate, multicasting, and business continuity. Perhaps not surprisingly, VoIP, consisting of basic VoIP and IP PBX
features, generated the most interest. This makes sense since the technology has been around for while (i.e. “battle-hardened”) and mobile VoIP has already been successfully trialed over a variety of network architectures.The research also revealed that enterprises are willing to pay a premium for “a new cellular broadband service that offers higher speed, simultaneous voice and data along with reduced latency performance,” such as EV-DO Rev. A or HSPA. In fact, it found that “76 percent of companies currently using EV-DO Rev. 0 are willing to pay a premium over current spending for premium mobile broadband.” In addition, “34 percent of the companies that are not currently using EV-DO Rev. 0 are willing to pay $60 or more per user per month for premium mobile broadband.”
The survey also asked respondents about their level of interest in video calling, video sharing, multimedia ring-back, content sharing, and “share and discuss.” Of these, video calling and video sharing were the two most popular applications.
With regard to the consumer market, Lucent evaluated interest in video calling, video sharing, multimedia ring-back, content sharing, and “share and discuss.” Of these, video calling and sharing were the two most popular applications.
Furthermore, the research reveals that nearly half of all consumers are willing to pay extra for “a cellular broadband service with DSL-like speed and simultaneous voice and data.” As with businesses, the willingness to pay for premium mobile broadband data service was much greater for those who had already signed up for services beyond basic voice (i.e., SMS text messaging, video/TV, ringtones, games, Internet access, etc). According to the survey results, more than 60 percent of consumers who currently spend money for such services are willing to pay extra for premium mobile broadband – and 40 percent of those who do not have these additional services said they are willing to pay extra.
Of course, all of this works in Lucent’s favor, as well as the service providers now licking their chops for their hunk of the mobile broadband market. The press release announcing the survey results does not specify how much more, in terms of dollars, consumers and enterprises are willing to pay for specific mobile broadband services. Furthermore, competition will no doubt play the main role in what these services will cost in the future. The press release does not mention the sample size for the survey or what regions it was conducted in.
The press release concluded with the following “disclaimer:”
“The survey results are in no way a predictor of the Lucent’s future performance, and are meant only to identify potential market opportunities and estimates for the communications industry at large.”
For more information about Lucent Technologies’ Market Advantage Program, visit www.lucent.com/map.
For more information about Lucent in general, visit www.lucent.com.
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Patrick Barnard is Associate Editor for TMCnet and a columnist covering the telecom industry. To see more of his articles, please visit Patrick Barnard’s columnist page.
