Qualcomm and Teleepoch Enter Into a 3G CDMA Subscriber Unit License Agreement, October 6, 2007

MTN chooses Cambridge Broadband Networks for multi-service wireless network in Rwanda, October 6, 2007

Brazilian government to publish 3G bidding rules soon, October 6, 2007

KTF 3G service suffers from technical problems, October 6, 2007

Argentina’s Personal lunches 3G service in Rosario, October 6, 2007

Russia has it's first 3G network, October 6, 2007

AT&T could drop Alcatel-Lucent as 3G mobile network supplier, October 6, 2007

Enea Extends License Agreement with ZTE for 3G Handsets, October 2, 2007

LG to unveil premium handsets in Brazil, October 2, 2007

KTF 3G subscribers doubled in less than 3 months, October 2, 2007

3G policy in India will be non-uniform, October 2, 2007

- previous news

Bundled pricing can increase ARPU

July 20, 2006

The emerging approach of bundled pricing is a powerful technique for driving mobile voice usage and kick-starting much-needed new revenue from mobile data services, according to a new report, Pricing Mobile Services for Success: towards a bundled future, from Analysys, the global advisers on telecoms, IT and media.

Despite the advent of 3G networks, many operators are struggling to maintain voice ARPU and to grow data services beyond messaging. The report shows that bundled pricing can be a highly effective way to stimulate revenue growth. With bundled pricing, mobile operators offer a defined usage allocation of one or more services for a set fee.

"Affordable bundled pricing has been fundamental to mobile operators in the USA achieving average voice usage that is over five times higher than in Western Europe," according to report co-author Dr Alastair Brydon. "Bundled pricing can be even more effective when extended to multiple voice and data services within a bundle." The report shows that bundled pricing can increase the usage of existing services, such as text and picture messaging, and drive take-up of new services, such as music downloads and mobile TV. "Bundles can encourage users to adopt and use more data services than they would if the services were purchased individually," says Brydon.

Beyond driving the take-up and usage of services, bundled pricing also has important strategic benefits for mobile operators. It can help them to strengthen their relationships with customers, to reduce churn and to avoid price competition

There is growing interest among mobile operators in flat-rate pricing, whereby subscribers are offered unlimited usage of one or more services for a fixed price. While flat-rate pricing has the benefit of simplicity, unlimited service usage can have serious implications and therefore must be handled with care. Furthermore, flat-rate pricing makes operators more susceptible to price competition and could make it difficult to generate additional revenue from increased usage of existing services or take-up of new data services.