Mobile Broadband in Sweden – Still Growing

Last year, I wrote about the explosive growth of mobile broadband in Sweden. According to the  National Post and Telecom Agency (PTS), which publishes an annual report on the state of the Swedish Telecommunications Market, the number of mobile subscriptions via data plug-in cards or USB modems increased from 92,000 to 376,000 (a growth rate of [...]

Mobile Broadband Showing Cracks?

According to the latest data from the UK broadband comparison website Broadband Genie, only around one in ten (11 per cent) mobile broadband users are satisfied with the speed of their mobile broadband. The data claims that exaggerated advertising and unrealistic ‘up to’ speed claims have given the public an unrealistic expectation [...]

Is Mobile Broadband Profitable?

The consensus opinion is certainly that mobile broadband is not a profitable business (yet)  in Western Europe (especially in countries like UK) where mobile broadband prices are trending lower than fixed broadband prices. I have always wanted to do a quantitative analysis. 
The analyst firm Informa claims that fixed-line costs in Europe are near Eurocent 0.1-0.5 per [...]

Sony’s New Embedded 3G ‘NetBook’

I guess it was just a matter of time before Sony introduced its ‘netbook’ offering – though it insists that its new Sony Vaio P is not a netbook. Walter Mossberg reviews it on the Journal:
I love the look and feel and boldness of the design, but can’t recommend this sleek machine for most users [...]

Interesting Report on Mobile Broadband Pricing in Europe

Tariff Consultancy has released an interesting new report on Mobile Broadband Pricing – an analysis  of current mobile broadband pricing in 33 countries across Eastern and Western Europe.  There are some interesting, yet not completely surprising, findings from the report:

The average flat rate package bundle provided has doubled over the last 12 months to almost 4GB [...]

iPhone – Platform for the Masses?

Conventional wisdom is that iPhone users are a gadget-loving, tech-savvy and well-off bunch. In fact, results from a quantitative study of US 2G iPhone US users conducted by Rubicon in March 2008 revealed that the former have a median annual household income of $67,000 which is roughly 40% greater than the US median. So when [...]

USB Dongle – Fashion Accessory?

You know USB dongles have become mainstream when operators start selling different color skins to go with them. H3G in Sweden (also called Tre) is positioning their mobile broadband as the “most stylish broadband” in addition to being the fastest!
 
“Sign up for 3 mobile broadband for 18 months and receive any skin at no extra [...]

3G Routers – Will It Accelerate Fixed Broadband Replacement?

I have been commenting quite regularly in this blog about how mobile broadband (based on USB dongles and modems) is increasingly being used by mobile-only operators (those without fixed assets) to accelerate the replacement of fixed broadband, primarily in Europe. The spectacular growth in mobile broadband subscriptions is being driven by aggressive pricing from mobile operators, [...]

Telstra Announces HSPA+ Upgrade

Telstra announced that it is upgrading its HSPA network to HSPA+, which the company says will offer peak downlink speeds of 21Mbps by end of 2008. Looks like Telstra pipped the other operators to the post – Qualcomm had announced multiple HSPA+ trials early this year to be conducted with Hutchison 3G, Telecom Italia, Telefonica and Telstra.  
Telstra [...]

Entry of White-Label Mobile Broadband Service

I guess it was just a matter of time before white-label mobile broadband service offerings entered the mobile data lexicon. Spanish PC manufacturer AIRIS has recently concluded a promotion offering a mobile broadband laptop bundle with no specific operator branding. The white-label offer shows how mobile broadband is rapidly becoming a commodity in Spain and in [...]