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]

EC moves closer to capping 'roaming' SMS charges

As anticipated, the Council of EU Telecoms Ministers has endorsed the European Commission's plans to reduce consumer charges for sending text messages and downloading data via mobile phones while 'roaming' abroad in the EU. If the plans (known as the Roaming II Agreement) are passed by the European Parliament in spring they could become law next summer. The EC's proposal includes:

• capping the cost of sending a text message at 11 Euro cents (excluding VAT),
• automatically sending an text message explaining the charges when you travel abroad,
• offering a pre-set limit for roamed data charges from 2010,
• further reducing the cost of 'roaming' voice calls in 2009 and 2010,
• introducing per-second billing after 30 seconds for all calls made, and
• introducing per-second billing for all calls received.

[Press release 1; Press release 2]

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.

Customers happy to pay extra for decent cameras on mobiles

Research company Strategy Analytics says consumers in the USA and Western Europe are most willing to pay extra for a camera on their mobile phone. Over 60% of all respondents said they'd be willing to pay extra for a quality camera on their mobile. Other popular options included a video camera, music player and removable memory cards. Customers aged 35 and older were less willing to pay extra than younger consumers. [Press release]

EC looking at VoIP blocking by mobile networks

The European Commission has asked mobile phone networks whether (and how) they're blocking VoIP calls - voice calls over the internet. The action is thought to be the prelude to a possible formal investigation. [Source: IHT.com]

EC plans mobile TV action soon

In an interview with EurActiv.com, European Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding has said the EC will soon 'fix the rules' for mobile television in Europe.

Mobile advertising claims are inflated, says report

Researchers at CCS Insight say the success of mobile advertising in Europe is being exaggerated and advertisers will only spend a fraction of their budgets trying to reach people through their mobiles. It says mobile advertising revenue in Europe over the next two will total less than 430 million Euro. However, it points out that people take more notice of mobile ads than advertising on TV or PC, which means the potential market is huge. [Source: TelecomTV.com]

Marketing man leaves T-Mobile

T-Mobile marketing director Phil Chapman is leaving the company next month. His job is losing its European focus to concentrate solely on the UK. Phil joined T-Mobile in January 2005 after a 23-year period working for Unilever. [Source: Mobile News]

Almost a quarter of broadband homes to be mobile-only by 2013

Almost a quarter of broadband-equipped homes will be mobile-only by 2013, according to a report from telecoms advisors Analysys Mason. They say that by 2013, 47% of European broadband subscriptions will use mobile networks and nearly a quarter of broadband-equipped sites will only use mobile technology. [Press release]

New HP iPaq phone due by Christmas?

Another week, another new handset rumour. This time it's HP, alias Hewlett Packard, which is said to have a European smartphone planned for release by the end of the year. [Source: WSJ.com]

Messaging booming but SMS revenue to drop in Europe

Mobile messaging - text messages, MMS and instant messaging - is increasingly popular in Western Europe, although SMS revenue is dropping. New research from Frost & Sullivan says that texts generated €16.42 billion revenue in Western Europe in 2007, which is expected to drop by 2.9% per year until it reaches €14.59 billion in 2011. However, MMS and IM revenue is expected to grow in the same period. [Press release]

Europeans are ditching fixed-line phones for mobiles

A European Commission study says about a quarter of homes in the EU have a mobile phone but no fixed-line connection. There's a higher proportion in Eastern Europe: 39% of households are mobile-only, compared to a fifth of homes in Western Europe - although in Finland, 61% of households only have mobiles. The report also says last year there were nearly 112 handsets for every 100 European residents. A report a couple of weeks ago put the US number of mobile-only households at 17%. [Source: Cellular-News.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]

Mobile search more popular than ever

The latest report from comScore M:Metrics says the number of people using mobile internet searches has grown by 30% in the UK over the last 12 months. Growth was 38% across Western Europe and 68% in the USA. 20.8 million US mobile phone customers and 4.5 million European mobile customers searched the web from their handsets in June 2008. The UK leads Europe and the USA with 9.5% of UK mobile customers using mobile search. [Press release]

Smartphone sales up 15.7%

Researchers at Gartner say worldwide sales of smartphones in the second quarter of 2008 reached 32.2 million units, which is an increase of 15.7% on the same quarter last year, although year-on-year growth rates are slowing down. Western Europe saw a 29.3% quarterly increase, while Nokia maintained its sector leadership with a 47.5% market share. [Report; press release]

US exceeds Europe for 3G penetration

Echoing recent figures about mobile web usage, research company comScore says the US now has a higher percentage of 3G users than Europe. 28.4% of all US mobile customers have 3G phones, compared with 28.3% of European mobile customers. Italy and Spain exceed penetration in the USA, but they're the only European countries that do. The actual figures are 64.2 million US 3G users and 63.4 million Europeans. These figures differ somewhat from Informa Telecoms & Media, which recently calculated that there were over 100 million 3G users in Europe. [Press release]

EU roaming texts to cost 10p?

EC telecommunications commissioner Viviane Reding 's draft plans for capping the cost of text messages when 'roaming' are proposing an 11 Euro cent (10.5p inc VAT) limit, according to reports. Her plans also mandate per-second billing for all calls of 30 seconds or longer - and, in addition, she wants to extend the cap on roaming call costs until 2013. The proposal will receive its first formal response when EC telecommunications ministers meet on 27th November. [Source: EUbusiness.com]

Prepay services are key to mobile broadband growth

Telecoms consultancy Ovum says mobile operators should use prepaid offerings to make the most of mobile broadband in Q4 2008 instead of expecting mobile broadband to replace fixed-line services. Its new report says fixed broadband penetration across Western Europe is too high for mobile broadband to compete on speed or capacity. The company adds that the number of customers willing to commit to a lengthy contract for mobile broadband will shrink. [Sources: Cellular-News.com; Telecoms.com]

Roaming prices drop again today

The EC capped price for making and receiving mobile phone calls when 'roaming' abroad in Europe is about to drop again, a year after the cap was introduced. (There's more information about cutting the cost of calls abroad in our special podcast). [EC press release]