Mobile broadband to evolve in 2009

After classifying 2008 as the year when mobile broadband took off, Danish analyst firm Strand Consult believes that 2009 will be the year when mobile computing undergo an evolutionary advance with the arrival of what it believes will be premium mobile broadband services.

Looking across Europe, the analyst sees mobile broadband cannibalising the DSL market especially in countries such as Austria, Finland and Sweden where over 60% of general broadband connections are mobile. In countries where mobile broadband penetration is over 10-15%, Strand forecasts that Internet service providers will face an increasing number of customers wanting to choose a mobile broadband connection rather than a DSL connection.

Strand harbours no doubt s to the success of mobile broadband and predicts that all the world's mobile operators will primarily focus on mobile broadband and will gain more traction by moving their focus away from 450 Euro expensive smart phones and over to 350 Euro portable PCs/notebooks with built-in 3G/HSDPA. Competition will act a as a very welcome damper, for end users at least, on rising service prices.
 
One key trend predicted by Strand is the concept of premium mobile broadband with mobile broadband operators launching P billing and an open garden strategy similar to the existing strategy deployed for premium SMS in the mobile area in general.

Whilst uptake will likely be steady through 2009, Strand expects such a market to explode in 2010, creating many new services including a number of convergence services.

In terms of mobile broadband carrier technologies, Strand sees the likely successful roadmap as GSM, UMTS and then LTE. It also expects the market for portable PCs with built-in mobile broadband will develop into a revolution, with customers adopting such products on a large scale.