Usage Allowances Holding Back UK Mobile Broadband Adoption

June 10, 2013 - PRLog -- A new web-based ISPreview.co.uk survey, which was conducted with 757 Internet users in the United Kingdom, has found that only a quarter of respondents (26%) expect future 5G based mobile connections to replace traditional fixed line home broadband services (42% said "No" they wouldn't replace fixed lines and 32% answered with "Maybe"). Concerns over small usage allowances, price and service speeds remain key problem areas.

The UK communications regulator, Ofcom, predicts that 5G services will enter the market via the 700MHz band (currently used for digital terrestrial TV services) sometime after 2018. Related services are intended to be significantly faster than the latest generation of 4G services and the regulator already expects it to become a true "fixed line substitute".

Elsewhere 72% of respondents said that Mobile Broadband connectivity was important to them. However, when asked which key area had prevented existing 3G and 4G mobile broadband services from replacing fixed lines, some 40% primarily blamed small usage allowances, while 23% said price and 19% highlighted slow service speeds.

"Mobile Broadband and related services have long been tipped to replace fixed line connections but so far, except for in a few cases, that hasn't happened," said ISPreview.co.uk's Founder, Mark Jackson. "The simple fact of the matter is that existing 3G and 4G services still struggle to compete with the ultra-cheap and often unlimited allowances offered by fixed line ISPs."

"The very latest fixed line technology can also offer faster and more stable speeds, although the top 3G and 4G services are beginning to close that gap and 5G could potentially bring the two even closer. Never the less it's clear that mobile operators still have a long way to go before they can offer the same flexibility (usage allowance) as fixed line connections, though the prospect for a seismic shift in the future does exist. But this perhaps wrongly assumes that fixed line services won't adapt to compete," concluded Mark Jackson.