2010 – Mobile Data Adoption Being Done Harmful

It’s 2010. I remember all the cute scenarios – the mock-up demos – about the evolution of 3G. Spectrum being locked away, given exclusively to operators for the evolution of mobile data towards a better world. People walking around with video telephony to their loved ones. Augmented reality for better understanding the real world and your surroundings. All smiling people, all beautiful.

It’s 2010 – time for a reality check. The mobile world is still mostly about two things: voice and SMS. It’s the two innovations that operators seemingly milk to death, if they can. And this obviously under minimal build-out of infrastructure. Maximizing CAPEX and OPEX – that’s what matters. Innovation? “Hang on, nobody told us about that”. Where are the many services, demonstrated so many years ago as the evolution of mobile technology?

Operators are notoriously bad in innovation and new services – the speed is set by others. And that is good. I hate relying on single innovators. I never believed in the ability of operators and vendors to bring us the services and applications that we might want – the flashy demos come back my mind. Who has ever used the video calling functionality in their mobile phone (being available since the Nokia 6630 many years back)?

The iPhone, and now also Android, has brought us the ability to get what we want – “there is an app for that”. Since I got my Android phone, I have most of things I wanted to do on my mobile. I can do Augmented Reality (a first version, at least) or video calling or location services of all sorts or …and this ability increases almost daily.

But there’s one thing I need: decent pricing for data. I’ve got flat rate pricing, alright. In my home country, that is. But the most appalling thing in 2010 is the pricing for data, in particular when roaming. I’m tired and sick, as a European, to provide a guarantee for printing money to operators by dearly paying for roaming once I set my foot into another European country. It has ensured income for operators for far too long and it needs to stop, if mobile data applications are ever to become ubiquitous. Unfortunately, I have little hope that operators themselves will see the non-sense behind this and adopt a more “give it to them and they will use it more” strategy. Short-term milking the revenue cow seems to be driving the strategy and therefore prevents the usage of your favourite apps (that you are used to at home) when you are abroad, at least in an affordable way.

Regulation has been active though in this! The EU has taken action – I’m glad. It’s forced the operators to make data roaming simpler – “a victory for consumers”. REALLY? How stupid do legislators and regulators believe people are?

Here is a copy of an SMS from Vodafone, received in February 2010 when entering Germany:

Welcome to GERMANY. VF Passport calls are 75p per call+home rate/bundled mins to make and receive. SMS’s are 11p & max pic msg 183p. Data is 0.5p per KB up to 1MB (£4.99 inc vat). The next 24MB is free then £4.99/25MB. Sessions reset at 00:00GMT. Call 4636 for free pricing info & 112 for emergency svcs.

It’s the friendly reminder you receive when you roam into a country. As you can see, data roaming is progressive in tariff here. I pay per KB, which is brilliant for email checking. Once I hit 1MB for £4.99, I will have the next 24MB free, i.e., I get 25MB for £5. That’s not cheap but ok.

This has all changed now. The EU thought that pricing of that sort is too difficult for consumers (who can really multiply these days?) and charges must be capped (I agree but that does not warrant a change in tariff, only – well – a cap, really).

The new, consumer-friendly, tariff for Vodafone is now “Just £1 for 1MB”. That’s brilliant, isn’t it? And it’s capped somewhere near £40 (I believe, never bothered to check – won’t roam for £40!!!). But hang on…

Sure, data pricing got simpler. I can easily compute it (could do this before, but never mind). And the single MB is seemingly cheaper (paid £5 for 1MB before, now £1). But a real data service needs more than 1MB anyways. Fire up Google maps on your phone and you’ll understand. So what do I get beyond 1MB? Well, 1MB for £1, right! That’s £5 for 5MB! Or £25 for 25MB!

It’s indeed all simpler but it’s also 5-times more expensive than just six months ago! I got 25MB for just £4.99! Now, after everything got so simple and consumer-friendly, it’s indeed 5 TIMES MORE!

I’m frustrated, more than annoyed. I haven’t used much data roaming for six months. The lack of a corporate account makes me think twice, under these rates, to use data while abroad. And I can imagine that even corporations reign in data usage by their employees. The most annoying thing is the damage done for Europe here. Given the many nations we have in Europe, all that is done here is hindering the adoption of mobile data even further. Sure, I can have flat data plans in my home country. But the reality is that many people travel or simply spend the weekend a few kilometers away in their neighboring country, just to be ripped off by their operator with a 5-time increase in roaming charge for their data service.

In the meanwhile, markets like the US are pushing towards the adoption of mobile data services, providing flat rate in a geography comparable to the EU. No roaming charge there (well, roaming outside US is quite expensive, too, but at least you can enjoy data in a large single space). So we shouldn’t be surprised about differences in mobile data uptake anymore.

Roaming has facilitated uptake of mobile telephony through the introduction of a common standard and the easy execution of roaming agreements. But it has, for too long now, provided a guarantee of income for operators that they apparently got too used for. The EU needs to reign in this short-term greed now and introduce data pricing caps – not for the total sum but the individual MB! Otherwise, I foresee increasing damage for Europe’s adoption of mobile services!