Growth Of Mobile Broadband Subscribers Slides

from the what-can-$60-per-month-buy-you? dept

Mobile operators around the world have been pushing the sales of data modems and laptop dongles in a bid to grow their subscriber figures and revenues, and they've largely been successful. But Comscore says that growth in data-modem subscriptions in the US slowed significantly in the fourth quarter, and it puts the blame on cutbacks in discretionary spending. That's one likely explanation, but another is that the market for people who want to spend $60 per month on mobile broadband is pretty much tapped out. The Comscore report says that mobile data users didn't add to their overall internet usage, but rather just shifted some of their time from fixed to mobile connections, making the mobile service one of convenience. When that convenience costs more than most home broadband connections, and can generally deliver lower speeds, it doesn't seem particularly surprising that user growth doesn't continue to skyrocket.

Filed Under: mobile broadband, subscribers