Will 5G displace NBN or complement the Australian NBN network? Much arguably depends on pricing. And full mobile substitution is not actually the bigger danger, but the degree of substitution. In competitive markets, share shifts of 10 points can mean the difference between profit and loss. It [...]

Some observers are relatively unconcerned about the potential impact of 5G and other untethered access offers on fixed internet take rates and subscriber volume. Reliance Jio’s massive disruption of the mobile industry might also suggest that untethered access is subject to mobile and wireless [...]

It is easy to predict how mobile service providers will use spectrum sharing  to support 4G and 5G mobile services. It is less clear how enterprises might do so, though private enterprise networks (akin to the way enterprises now use Wi-Fi) or third party internet access are oft-mentioned [...]

If supply and demand matter, and when access speeds are high enough,  then it is easy to predict that consumers using unlimited usage plans, all other things being equal, will use less Wi-Fi for access. That appears to be the case in the U.S. market, where unlimited usage plans now are offered [...]

In economic terms, 3G often is said to have been “lead by Europe,” and 4G often is said to have been “lead by the United States.” So a new report commissioned by CTIA argues that “China, South Korea, and the United States are currently leading the race to 5G.” That term most applies to the […]

“Free” is a difficult price point in most markets. But free voice forever is among the pricing and packaging foundations for Reliance Jio’s fierce attack on India’s mobile market structure. Price leadership is another foundation. RJio says it will reduce tariffs by another 20 percent whenever a [...]

Less than a year ago, there were seven mobile service providers in India with at least eight million customer accounts. Today, only three firms remain: Vodafone-Idea; Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel. source: Telecomlead That is how rapid the mobile service provider market consolidation has [...]

Major network transitions tend to be hybrids. So it will be with 5G. Though most believe 4G will continue to anchor “coverage” requirements, 5G clearly will represent upside for capacity requirements and low-latency apps. In other words, 5G will largely complement 4G, not displace it, in the [...]

The internet has been a huge boon for consumers and some companies and industries. But the internet also tends to wring profit out of any industry it touches. And eventually, the internet touches every phase of economic life. Consider the impact just one firm–Reliance Jio–has had on [...]

Industry competitors normally pay money to track their market share versus their “real” competitors. The problem is that, in rapidly-changing and porous new markets, the legacy competitors–even when they are the most benchmarked firms–are not the strategic competitors. [...]

Despite current growth of mobile revenues in some markets (Asia, Africa in particular), it will be difficult to sustain long-term mobile operator growth at rates much higher than growth of gross domestic product (GDP). Eventually, every customer that wants to use mobile services will do so. [...]

5G is to networking as telecom is to the internet. That is to say, 5G is part of a larger shift of networking as “telecom” has become a tail on the internet dog. Specifically, 5G is part of a larger transformation of global public networks involving much lower latency, much more [...]