Category Archives: US

Data-only drives traffic. The same can’t be said for 5G.

Tefficient’s 39th public analysis of mobile data development and drivers compares 39 countries worldwide, where M2M/IoT can be excluded from the total bases. Mobile data usage grew in 38 of them – with Bahrain as the only exception.

If you’d rather see the analysis including M2M, go here.

When usage grows, the growth rates are slowing. Portugal leads with a growth rate of 47%, contrasting with Taiwan‘s modest 8% growth. Bahrain experienced a decline of 6% in data usage.

Data-only subscriptions continue to dominate average mobile data usage, although their market share remains limited. Latvia‘s average data-only subscription consumed 138 GB per month in 2022 while Austria recorded 115 GB in the first half of 2023. In the FWA-only category, Australia had a remarkable 334 GB per month in 1H 2023.

While data-only drives traffic, the same can’t be said for 5G

Reporting is imperfect, but there are only three countries with disproportionately high 5G traffic in relation to their 5G bases: South Korea, Austria and Saudi Arabia. We explain what these countries do and what other countries are missing.

Continue reading Data-only drives traffic. The same can’t be said for 5G.

Equipment sales and bundling: Best practices

Analysis & Go-to-market, 2020

Which are the equipment sales models in mobile and how have they developed over time? Can best practices be spotted when comparing equipment sales and profitability for a large number of mature market operators globally?

Using facts: What outputs are different equipment sales models such as subsidy, instalment, leasing, rental and BYOD generating – and how is an early upgrade promise affecting?

In this project we identified and documented a few operator best practices across different models in different markets.

Continue reading Equipment sales and bundling: Best practices

Public Wi-Fi: Lost in transition to 5G?

Two years ago, telcos were still proudly reporting their progress in utilisation of their own public Wi-Fi hotspots for cost efficient offloading of mobile data. Public Wi-Fi was also positioned as an investment in a better customer experience – especially in public indoor environments. Telcos that were late with 4G – such as in Taiwan and Belgium – could utilise their public Wi-Fi to bridge the transition from 3G to 4G.

You can find this in our telco Wi-Fi analysis from September 2016.

But something changed. Continue reading Public Wi-Fi: Lost in transition to 5G?

Are Europe’s most pronounced fixed wireless operators taking half a step back?

American carriers and uncarriers are embracing fixed wireless as one of the first use cases that 5G will solve. Verizon finally lifted the curtain on its fixed wireless offering yesterday: Verizon 5G Home. October 1 it will be available for 50 USD per month to existing Verizon customers in certain areas in Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles and Sacramento.

T-Mobile’s 5G will – to use their own words – have more ‘breadth and depth‘ than Verizon’s. With 5G, T-Mobile will position itself within fixed wireless for the first time:

“51% of Americans have only one high-speed broadband option – no choice at all! The combined company will create a viable alternative for millions by enabling mobile connections that rival broadband, driving prices lower and improving service.”

The only caveat when it comes to T-Mobile’s ambition is that it is conditional. This will happen if T-Mobile and Sprint are allowed to merge – a decision not yet made.

But if fixed wireless is up and coming in the US, it’s actually a pretty established business for a few operators across the pond – in Europe. Continue reading Are Europe’s most pronounced fixed wireless operators taking half a step back?

Apple Watch 3 Cellular, how much data does it eat?

It’s here. I’ve been salivating after the latest Apple Watch 3, with all the bells and whistles. Slick, beautiful, cool and I’ll only need a watch to make/receive calls and text, stream music, etc. This should be easy, I’ll just pre-order the GPS & Cellular version. I’m a UK consumer and have a passion for all things mobile & telco, both home and abroad. Therefore, I decided to find out how Apple Watch 3 offers compare in the UK, USA and Australia. Continue reading Apple Watch 3 Cellular, how much data does it eat?

We’re not subsidizing. We’re just selling phones for less than what we bought them for.

The four largest wireless carriers in the US – Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint – all claim that they have (essentially) abandoned the two-year-binding-contract-with-subsidized-phone model.

At least in the consumer market; the model is still around in the business market.

But have they? Continue reading We’re not subsidizing. We’re just selling phones for less than what we bought them for.

Without an attractive iPhone, operators’ EBITDA margin surges

Canning FokWhen Canning Fok, the co-managing director of CK Hutchison (the group that owns ‘3‘), in the earnings webcast yesterday attributed the revenue headwinds of the group to oil, foreign currency and the iPhone, two things became clear: Continue reading Without an attractive iPhone, operators’ EBITDA margin surges

“The best network” worth 6% of EBITDA

Wondered why American carriers spent so much effort and marketing dollars claiming and defending “the best mobile network” position lately?

It started with Verizon‘s balls commercial:

Continue reading “The best network” worth 6% of EBITDA

When your sub-brand takes over

Even though there are some high-profiled exceptions (Verizon, most of Vodafone Group and Free to mention three), few telcos are today trusting its ability to attract all customer segments – across consumer and business markets – with one single brand.

Subbrands2

Having one or several sub-brands has become the norm of a modern telco. In some cases, e.g. with KPN’s Telfort and TDC’s Telmore, sub-brands have been added as a result of acquisitions (often of a successful disruptive brand). In other cases, e.g. Orange’s Sosh or 3 Denmark’s Oister, telecos have themselves created the sub-brand – often with the intention to isolate the main brand from a new price fighter brand. Continue reading When your sub-brand takes over

34 petabytes of zero-rated video streamed since launch of Binge On

Mid November last year, T-Mobile USA launched its 10th uncarrier initiative, Binge On. It has been the most controversial uncarrier launch so far.

Binge on2

Why? Binge On zero-rates commercial video services – so that T-Mobile customers can watch as much as they like without emptying their data bucket. The trade-off? Video streams are slowed down to about 1.5 Mbit/s which means that image quality suffers – which is visible, but perhaps not on smaller screens like smartphones and tablets. Continue reading 34 petabytes of zero-rated video streamed since launch of Binge On

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