Abstract
One well-documented and significant trend in the mobile industry is the
ongoing decline in the prices of various mobile services. Voice prices have
declined steeply over the years and a similar trend has been observed in the
more popular data services, including SMS and other non-voice services, such
as monotone or polyphonic ringtones, mobile games, etc. With the increase in
the penetration of these applications, these services are beginning to account
for significant portions of operators service revenues.
This report discusses the various trends in the pricing of mobile services,
such as declining prices, changing pricing structure and flat pricing schemes,
in different regions and the factors that have brought about these trends. In
this report, we have attempted to understand how and why the prices of voice
and data services have evolved in different markets, and how these prices are
expected to change in the coming years. With the introduction of 3G
technologies, will prices continue to decline, and will bundling of
similar/complementary data services gain even more importance?
The report presents a brief overview of the worldwide mobile market,
highlighting the key trends in the developed and developing markets (based on
the penetration levels of mobile services). It analyses the evolution in
pricing of voice services and data services (including messaging and other
content-based services) in relation to the overall growth of these services.
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