Orange says mobile multimedia is more popular than ever

The latest Digital Media Index report from Orange (covering summer/autumn 2008) says that mobile data usage has almost doubled since the company's previous report, which covered November 2007 to January 2008. Sales of 3G mobile internet 'dongles' were up 2,139% since January, with 3G customer numbers rising 86%: 1.3 million people. Mobile search was up 30% and music downloads were up 10%. [Press release]

Data costs holding back mobile content growth

The cost of using mobile data is holding back growth in the European content market, according to mobile transaction company mBlox. They say UK consumers face charges of up to £10 to download a single song and recommend that networks adopt a ‘sender pays' business model to include data costs with purchases from their own online stores. [Press release]

Recession hits mobile spending in Europe

The mobile phone market in Western Europe stopped growing in Q3 2008, according to a new report from Strategy Analytics. Mobile data revenues continued to perform well but the voice market saw revenue growth slow more than expected, with revenue falling for some operators. [Press release]

Mobile security worth $889 million in 2011

Market research firm Infonetics Research says by 2011 mobile networks will have spent $889 million on security appliances and software to protect themselves. It says the increasing popularity of mobile data is driving investment in networks and data centres while an increasing number of security threats are driving the need for improved security. [Press release]

In-flight texts from London to Moscow

bmi has become the first British airline to offer its passengers an in-flight communications service that includes text messages, email and internet browsing from mobile phones and PDAs. The service, supplied by OnAir, is being trialled for six months on an Airbus A320 aircraft operating between Heathrow and Moscow. [Press release]

It's a trillion-dollar industry

Cheer up, everyone. Annual revenue from mobile phone customers globally will exceed a trillion US dollars by 2013 (that's twelve zeroes), when there'll be more than 5.3 billion customers. In fact, by the end of 2013, revenue from mobile operators is expected to be up a third since the beginning of this year - and customer numbers will be up 56%. Needless to say, most of those new customers won't be coming from North America and Western Europe but from the Asia Pacific, Africa and Latin American markets. The figures - from Informa Telecoms & Media - also say voice revenue will make up the majority of that $1.03 trillion figure, although data revenue will more than double from $148 billion in 2007 to $347 billion in 2013. [Source: Telecoms.com]

3G laptops over-hyped according to report

The short-term importance of laptops and netbooks with built-in 3G or WIMAX capabilities has been significantly over-estimated, according to a new report from Disruptive Analysis. It says end-users currently favour external plug-in equipment, such as USB 'dongles', and will continue to do so for several years. However, it says devices with 'embedded' mobile broadband will eventually overtake separate modems, although not all wireless-equipped devices will have their built-in service activated. [Press release]

Virgin Mobile announces flat-rate web deal

Virgin Mobile has said it's launching a flat-rate mobile internet deal next week. From 8th December, customers in the UK will be able to browse mobile internet sites for 30p a day on 'pay monthly' and prepay tariffs. (Exceeding the 25MB 'fair usage' cap will incur additional charges). There'll also be a new Virgin Media branded portal featuring Yahoo’s oneSearch service. We interviewed Virgin Mobile MD Graeme Oxby in October for the Mobile News podcast -more details are here. [Press release; promotional site]

O2 cuts mobile broadband prices for prepay users

O2 has priced its new prepay USB broadband modem at £29.99, with data charges starting at £2 a day for 500MB, rising to £7.50 a week for 1GB or £15 a month for 3GB. It's describing it as the "UK’s leading priced mobile broadband Pay & Go service". The deal also includes unlimited access to over 6,000 WiFi hotspots across the UK through The Cloud. [Press release]

EC decision on data roaming charges expected soon

The EC's plans for a cap on European data 'roaming' charges are expected to be agreed tomorrow, according to the International Herald Tribune. It says cross-border text message charges could to drop to 11 Euro cents (about 10.6p incl. VAT) from July 2009 - and there could be a similarly dramatic drop in data usage, too.

Wireless traffic could increase tenfold

Mobile network operators in developed regions should be ready for a tenfold increase in wireless network traffic by 2015, according to a new report from Analysys Mason. Its Wireless network traffic 2008–2015 report says data traffic is quickly overtaking voice, driven by factors that include USB modems, smartphones, affordable pricing and bigger downloads. Developed regions are expected to account for just 25% of mobile phone users by 2015 but will generate 65% of total global wireless network traffic. The average mobile user is expected to use eight times more data by 2015, rising from the current figure of 56MB per month to 455MB per month... although one forecast says this could be as much as a 23-fold increase, depending on circumstances. [Press release]

Just 2% of iPhone users don't touch data services

Research company Nielsen has calculated there are 3.6 million mobile subscribers (aged 13+) actively using an Apple iPhone in the USA, with 98% of customers using at least one data service. [Source: wirelessandmobilenews.com]

Vodafone publishes half-year report

Vodafone has published its half-yearly figures (April - September 2008), which show that Group revenue is up 17.1% to £19.9 billion, data revenue is up 48.6% to £1.4 billion and European revenue is up 14.3%. Profits, however, were down 34% to £2.17 billion. Chief Executive Vittorio Colao says the company plans to improve operational performance through customer value enhancement and by cutting £1 billion of costs. [Press release]

Almost 20% of mobile revenue is from data

Almost 20% of worldwide mobile operator revenue comes from data, according to a report from Chetan Sharma Consulting - with some major operators receiving 40% of their revenue from data. The USA is now leads the world's most lucrative mobile data market, having pushed Japan into second place this year. Its operators are earning $17.5 billion in total data revenue, although Japan has the highest-earning individual operator: NTT DoCoMo has made $6.8 billion in data revenue during the first six months of 2008. The UK's O2 network is number 9 in the world. [Source: FierceWireless.com]

Mobile data comes home

Within the next five years, more than half of all mobile data is expected to be generated at home. New research from Informa Telecoms & Media says 40% of last year's mobile data traffic was generated at home but it's expected to reach 58% by 2013. Voice usage at home is also expected to increase, from 42% in 2008 to 49% in 2013. [Source: Telecoms.com]

Europe prepares to cap costs for text and data when roaming

European telecomms commissioner Viviane Reding has confirmed that she wants to cap charges for text messages at a maximum of 9p+VAT when roaming in Europe and will force operators to bill cross-border voice calls by the second. She also aims to restrict data charges to 79p+VAT per megabyte. These proposals will be voted on by the European Parliament in spring next year and could become by summer 2009. [Sources: Mobile News; TheRegister.co.uk]

New text service acquires 100,000 customers in 3 weeks

Money-saving text message service FishText.com says it's attracted more than 100,000 registered users since launching three weeks ago. The service uses a mobile data connection to send texts, costing 2p a text (plus data charges) for messages withn the UK. [Press release]

New podcast: top ten tips for taking your mobile abroad

This week we've recorded a special Mobile News podcast for the summer holidays. We've included advice about 'roaming' charges, Voicemail use, top-up services, prepay SIMs and loads of other useful guidance. Download it and discover our top ten tips for taking your phone abroad: essential information whether you're advising customers or planning your own escape! As always, the broadcast can be found at TheFonecast.com, on the Mobile News website, via iTunes or on our RSS feed.

3 connects a million mobile broadband users in Europe

Mobile network 3 says it's now connected one million mobile broadband customers across its networks in Europe. It's also taken the opportunity to talk about its ‘3 Like Home’ roaming deal, which lets customers pay discounted rates while using 3's services abroad. [Source: 3G.co.uk]

Mobile data revenue to hit £100 billion this year

The latest report from Informa Telecoms & Media says annual revenue from mobile data services is set to exceed $200 billion (£100 billion) for the first time this year. Total revenue from mobile data was approximately $157 billion in 2007 and was up by over 42% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2008. Non-SMS data is estimated to account for around 35% of total data revenue. Japan's NTT DoCoMo currently generates the highest non-voice revenue, while Smart Communications in the Philippines has the largest proportion of data revenue: more than 50% of its income is from non-voice services. [Source: Telecoms.com]