14 DAY TRIAL // According to a recently published report from global analyst house, CCS Insight, the Mobile Broadband across Europe is expected to grow at a high rate in the near future, fueled by HSPA and HSPA+ Mobile Broadband technology. The European Mobile Broadband market is expected to register twice the current number of subscribers and amount of revenues by 2011, the CCS Insight’s report shows.
According to Michael O’Hara, chief marketing officer at the GSMA, the growth in mobile broadband usage will also be fueled by the increase in available speeds for these services. He also points out that the “GSM family of technologies continues to evolve,” with a larger number of network deployments being performed in the HSPA+ and LTE areas. The advancements in this segments will result in speeds that are on par or higher than those offered by fixed line broadband offerings.
The report also shows that: - Total Mobile Broadband subscribers in key European markets will rise from about 22 million at the end of 2009 to over 43 million in 2011 - Total revenue from Mobile Broadband access in the major markets will rise from less than €6 billion in 2009 to more than €11 billion in 2011
“It is clear from this report that with the right network investment, European mobile network operators will see significant growth in Mobile Broadband adoption in the next two years,” O’Hara stated. “HSPA technology will drive this rapid uptake across Europe as mobile operators and their customers continue to benefit from its expanding, vibrant and competitive ecosystem. HSPA technology has a vast number of enabled devices and established roaming capabilities delivering high speed broadband connectivity to users on the move, right across Europe.”
According to the report, most carriers have already adopted flat-rate, all-you-can-eat models, though Italian users are still charged by the minute. France and Germany are the countries with the highest charging rates, €85 a month for 4GB of data in the former and €45 for each gigabyte in the latter. UK has the lowest charging fees, as 3GB of data traffic cost less than €17 a month. However, the fastest growth in mobile broadband usage is expected to be in France and Spain, something that will result in a reduction in monthly charges.