Parks Associates has released mobile industry research showing roughly 29% of U.S. broadband users watch video on a mobile phone monthly, with the average user watching 1.7 hours of video on a mobile phone each week.
Since 2008, revenues from voice services for the top-four U.S. mobile network operators (MNOs) have declined 6%, while data revenues have grown 129%. Mobile data revenues will be key to offsetting stagnant growth in voice revenues. Most major MNOs worldwide are transitioning or have already adopted tiered or shared usage-based data plans, and they will continue to experiment with pricing models to optimize the revenue-generation potential of mobile data access.
Parks Associates’ mobile industry research report Optimization & Monetization Mobile Data Traffic shows MNOs face increasing competition from OTT players, particularly in the area of messaging and multimedia value-added services (VAS), and the revenues from these sources are steadily declining. Analysts say MNOs will have to find ways of generating revenues, such as launching their own OTT services, partnering with OTT service providers, or bundling VAS services with data plans, to create value and differentiation from competitors.
