[CTIA 2012 Survey]: Data +69%, Voice +0.2%; SMS -4,9%

 

CTIA published its its semi-annual survey, providing information on both investments made in the US wireless networks and usage information. "U.S. wireless providers increased their annual network investments from $25.3 billion in 2011 to $30.1 billion in 2012 (up 19 percent). The $30.1 billion is the highest amount since the survey began in 1985, which is approximately 25 percent of the world’s total".

As for usage information:

• Wireless subscriber connections: 326.4 million (102 percent penetration); 2011: 315.9 million (3.3 percent increase)
• Wireless network data traffic: 1.468 trillion megabytes; 2011: 866.8 billion (69.3 percent increase).
• Minutes of Use (MOU): 2.2999 trillion; 2011: 2.2955 trillion (4.4 billion minute increase or .2 percent).
• SMS sent and received: 2.19 trillion; 2011: 2.3 trillion (4.9 percent decrease).
• Ce: 74.5 billion; 2011: 52.8 billion (41 percent increase).

At the end of 2012, US MNOs had 301,779 cell sites, compared to 283,385 at the end of 2011 (+6.5%). 

   

See "CTIA-The Wireless Association® Semi-Annual Survey Shows U.S. Wireless Providers Invested Almost Six Times More Per Subscriber than Rest of World" - here.

Sprint Expands Bill Shock Alerts

A month before the CTIA deadline [see "[US] Bill Shock Prevention: VZW, AT&T and T-Mobile will Alert on Exceeding Data Charges" - here] Sprint announced the ".. expansion of its current usage alert program to include wireless voice and text messaging services .. Customers can elect to receive these free alerts via text message or email through Sprint’s Ready Now program or by accessing their account via Sprint.com. If a customer doesn’t choose a preferred method of communication, Sprint will provide alerts via text message as a default".

For International use - "Sprint sends a "welcome" text message when an international roaming subscriber first registers in a foreign country. The text message includes details on the casual rates for voice, texts and data in that particular country. In addition, Sprint sends notifications in approximately $50 increments of international data roaming charges. Casual international roaming users will be required to opt-in when usage charges meet or exceed approximately $100 and $300. Customers on international data plans must opt-in when they meet their data allowance and when they incur approximately $300 in overage charges. All customers incurring approximately $500 of international data usage charges will be suspended, but usage can be restored by contacting Sprint. Sprint will continue to send notifications at approximately $50 increments over $500".

See "Sprint Launches Voice and Text Usage Alerts Fulfilling its Industry Commitment" - here.

[CTIA]: Wireless Yearly Growth - Data: +104%, Voice/SMS: +3%

 
A recent CTIA survey finds that ".. Americans used more than 1.1 trillion megabytes (MB) of data from July 2011-June 2012, which was an increase of 104 percent over the previous 12 months ..  As of June 2012, smartphones made up 131 million (or 41 percent) of the almost 322 million wireless subscriber connections. The number of tablets increased to 22 million, which is almost 17 percent of all wireless connections"

   

According to the survey, voice minutes and SMS sent and received grow by 3% each, while MMS messages grew by 10.6%. See also "[Analysys Mason]: 45% Use OTT Messaging but 97% Still Use SMS" - here. 

".. there were 28,641 cell sites added this year for a total of 285,561 nationwide [see chart below]".

See "Consumer Data Traffic Increased 104 Percent According to CTIA-The Wireless Association® Semi-Annual Survey" - here.

Verizon: "In the long view, over-the-top is important”

   
A number of telecom analysts have addressed the issue of OTT services and how MNOs should treat the threat to their legacy voice and messaging services during the recent months (see posts on Analysys Mason, Yankee Group, and Informa, Ovum).

It  seems that the message went through. The largest, global carriers accept the general idea - to partner and/or offer their own services. A recent example is Telefonica (see  "Introducing TU Me: the free all-in-one communications app from Telefónica" - here, pictured) that uses the JaJah technology it acquired more than 2 years ago to compete with the likes of Skype and Google Voice.

What about the US MNOs? Brad Smith reports to Wireless Week on a panel discussion that took place during the CTIA wireless 2012 show last week, with representatives from Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile and VoIP/OTT providers Viber Media and Google Voice.

Few quotes from the happy carrier guys:

• Brad Duea (pictured), SVP of marketing for T-Mobile USA: "We view this as an opportunity .. When you look at T-Mobile’s history, you see we want to power your communications everywhere. We don’t want islands of communities”
   
• Brian Higgins, VP of network and tech for Verizon Wireless: "Verizon sees services as one of its key strengths in the future .. We’re building our own services that compete with over-the-top players but also are helping them .. In the long view, over-the-top is important .. Verizon and other operators provide many services to their customers and not just access. He said communications is complicated enough that customer service is critical to helping consumers choose services and devices and teach them how to use them”.

Viber’s Marco said "traditional telecom operators are going to be network providers that provide access". 

  

See "CTIA: OTT Services as Next Battleground" - here.

  

A somehow related story shows what happened to Marco (pictured) few days ago aboard a Delta flight (see "Delta Calls Cops on Viber Exec for Using His Own VoIP App In-Flight" - here). The article explains that "While passengers are welcome to access the web, U.S. airlines offering WiFi service block the use of inflight calling using Skype or similar applications. This is not an FAA restriction; they are simply responding to the overwhelming majority of their customers, who prefer silent communications to the public nature of Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) calls".

[US] Bill Shock Prevention: VZW, AT&T and T-Mobile will Alert on Exceeding Data Charges

   
The FCC announced that "Consumers are getting help avoiding bill shock thanks to an agreement by the major U.S. wireless service providers to a change in the voluntary Consumer Code for Wireless Service sponsored by the industry trade group CTIA – The Wireless Association. The participating carriers, representing more than 97 percent of the nation’s wireless customers [i.e. Verizon and AT&T included], have agreed to start sending, by October 2012, a series of free alerts to subscribers who have wireless plans that impose additional charges for exceeding limits on voice, data and text usage, and to those who will incur additional charges when using their wireless devices while travelling abroad".
 
The history of this matter goes as follows:

• [Oct, 2010] FCC: We have a "Bill Shock" Problem - here
• [Jan, 2011] CTIA: FCC Bill Shock Alerts "would cost tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars to implement - here.
• [Oct, 2011] Bill Shock Prevention is Coming to the US Mobile Service - here 

"The following table tracks the progress in providing the alerts by the carriers that have subscribed to the code, according to the latest information supplied by CTIA .. All alerts must be provided without charge and automatically. Subscribers will not need to take any action to receive the alerts. The carriers must provide their subscribers with at least two of the four types of alerts by Oct. 17, 2012, and all of the alerts by April 17, 2013".

Carrier	Voice	Data	SMS/Text	Int'l Roaming
AT&T		Yes	N/A
Cellcom
Cellular One of NE Arizona
Clearwire
Illinois Valley Cellular
SouthernLINC Wireless
Sprint				Yes
T-Mobile USA	Yes	Yes	N/A	Yes
US Cellular
Verizon Wireless		Yes		Yes

See "Bill Shock: Wireless Usage Alerts for Consumers" - here and "New FCC Website to Help Consumers Beat ‘Bill Shock’" - here.

Bill Shock Prevention is Coming to the US Mobile Service

     

US wireless providers have agreed, under self regulation, to ".. send free alerts to help consumers avoid unexpected overage charges". The FCC peruses bill shock prevention for long time now (here).

The move was announced jointly by ".. CTIA President & CEO Steve Largent (pictured), Federal Communications Chairman Julius Genachowski, and Consumers Union’s Communications Policy Counsel Parul Desai"

"The plan – called the “Wireless Consumer Usage Notification Guidelines” – will provide free alerts both before and after subscribers they reach monthly limits on voice, data and text. In addition, the plan includes a notification to inform consumers of international roaming charges when traveling abroad. Subscribers will be covered by this plan unless they opt-out .. By October 17, 2012 participating carriers will provide customers with at least two out of the four notifications for data, voice, text and international roaming and all of the alerts by April 17, 2013".

See "CTIA-The Wireless Association®, Federal Communications Commission and Consumers Union Announce Free Alerts to Help Consumers Avoid Unexpected Overage Charges"  - here.

CTIA: FCC Bill Shock Alerts "would cost tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars to implement.”

  
The New York Times has a story about the objections to the FCC proposal requiring wireless carriers to alert consumers when they’re about to reach their plans’ limits, which is now even more relevant due to the move from unlimited data plans to usage-based billing (background: here and here).

Story by Randall Stross - "Please, Just Tell Me When I’m Nearing My Limit" (here).

The article brings the CTIA origination position on the matter, which says (among other arguments) that "customers can check their current charges by going to their carrier’s Web site and looking them up — or by sending short codes on their phones or installing apps on their smartphones that can provide a tally of minutes and data use. And if customers don’t remember to check, the carriers can shrug and say, “Not our fault.”

Christopher Guttman-McCabe, vice president for regulatory affairs at the C.T.I.A. (picture) says "the F.C.C.’s alerts requirement would cost tens, if not hundreds, of millions of dollars to implement.” But the C.T.I.A.’s own written statement [here] describes an industry that has already made considerable investments in infrastructure that enable real-time alerts about use."  

Nevertheless, the CTIA indicates that "AT&T already provides three alerts to iPad users: when data use has reached 80 percent of the plan’s allocation, again at 90 percent, and once more when the allocation has been reached and overages begin and the SmartAccess program from T-Mobile"

See also a recent CTIA Blog post - "CTIA to FCC: Competition, Not Regulation Offers Innovative Account Management Tools" - here.

CTIA is consistent with his objections to FCC regulation (See "CTIA President: "we believe there isn't any need to apply Net neutrality regulations to wireless." - here) 

FCC Annual Wireless Report: Mobile Internet Usage Information

 

The FCC published the 14th "Annual Report and Analysis of Competitive Market Conditions With Respect to Mobile Wireless, Including Commercial Mobile Services" (here).

308 pages, 50 charts and 42 tables covering every possible aspect of the US wireless market with information gathered from multiple sources - although some of the information is a bit old.

Since I am focusing on the mobile data traffic aspects, I find the following information interesting (see charts below):

• Chart 26 shows monthly data traffic generated by device type - note the difference between a blackberry, IPhone and other smartphones. and above all - laptops (source: Validas LLC)
   
• Chart 11 shows the number of devices (by the end of 2008) served by US wireless operators, by capability. At this time there were 7.2M laptops connected (source: CTIA).  

While laptop users are 8.4% of the "high speed" (Internet access at speeds over 200 kbps in at least one direction) wireless connected devices, their data consumption sets a significant challenge to the wireless data infrastructure - certainly is wireless operators like to position this service as an alternative to DSL or Cable for home users.

For the latter matter, the report quotes (P. 181) the FCC's National Broadband Plan: "while mobile wireless service currently is not competitive with wireline for those consumers who value high speeds over other attributes, advances in wireless technologies, coupled with increases in the supply of spectrum, have the potential to make mobile wireless service a more viable competitor at higher data speeds at some future date".

All this will have a major effect on backhaul capacity - and the report claims (P. 160) that "Cell site backhaul capacity is forecast to increase fourfold between 2007 and 2011" (source: Infonetics Research)
 

CTIA President: " we believe there isn't any need to apply Net neutrality regulations to wireless."

 

In an interview to CNET senior writer Marguerite Reardon, CTIA (The Wireless Association) president, Steve Largent (pictured below) stated the US wireless industry view on FCC Net Neutrality "third way" (see title).

Then Mr. Chris Guttman-McCabe, head of regulatory affairs for CTIA, explains why wireless operators should be exempt from the new regulations:

"There have always been instances in communications regulation where services are regulated differently. If you look at wireline and wireless networks, they are regulated differently. Satellite is regulated differently. Cable is treated different from broadcast TV and the list goes on."

[not much of an argument, I must say]

Mr. Largent probably sensed that, and adds:

"The real difference is that wireless has spectrum constraints. So it must be treated differently. I mean you look at the usage of wireless service and smartphones and there are already constraints in some markets like New York City and San Francisco. There have already been a lot of complaints in those places. "

[sounds better ... and points to a real, although may be a temporary, issue]

Regarding the recent bill shock prevention initiative - (see "FCC Follows Europe With Bill Shock Prevention - Vendor Offering Review" - here)"

"so why can't they [mobile operators]  just program the billing systems to send a short text message [approaching account limit] at the same time?



Guttman-McCabe: I don't know if it's technically possible or not [indeed, not all mobile device support SMS]. But it can't happen without at least some cost to a carrier."
 
See full story - here.

DPI Announcements - Acision Broadband Mobility Suite

Next week's CTIA show brings some announcements - this time let's look at what Acision will be demoing.

Like many other vendors in related spaces, Acision is also addressing the traffic management aspect of mobile internet or as they say "enabling operators to gain control over their network utilization, while simultaneously increasing mobile broadband revenue and profit per gigabyte " (press release - here). All trendy keywords are there - "policy management and enforcement, web and media optimization, service allowance and bundle management, charging, location-awareness and VAS "

Some of the announced features, such as the following, require the use of DPI. I don’t see more detailed product information at the site nor list of technology partners providing these features, though.

• "Bundles where two devices, such as a laptop and a mobile phone share the same package" - this is a requirement from many mobile operators, trying to prevent customers abusing the service terms
   
• "Packages that exclude data-intensive applications that put high pressure on the network, like P2P downloading" - Requires DPI to identify, accurately, P2P.  

See an interview with Acision's Steven van Zanen, VP of Product Marketing, made last month at MWC.