How Airtel, AT&T – Top 10 Global Telcos are Positioning 4G LTE Services ?

Bharti Airtel in India became the first Telecom Operator to launch 4G LTE Wireless Broadband Services. I’d like to compare how 4G LTE services are structured globally ? Unlike in India where 4G LTE is introduced as a Data Only service, it can be used for Voice as well in the rest of the world.

Telcos are unsure on how the transition to 4G LTE technology will affect their revenues. Telecom Operators have two schools of thought – Voice cannibalization on SmartPhones, which LTE could facilitate and contradicting the same is an opportunity for carriers to monetize growing data usage. It’s early days for LTE, too early to draw conclusions on how LTE might be affecting ARPUs.

In the US, Canada, Korea and Japan 4G-LTE is available on SmartPhones as well as USB Dongles / Data Cards. While in Sweden, India, Germany, Australia and Singapore 4G is launched as Data Only service accessible by laptop Cards or USB Dongles. In India, if Airtel wants to offer Voice over 4G LTE, it can legally do so but guess its following the Softbank lobby 😉

For the sake of comparison of 4G LTE Services Globally, did a small research and what was looked at is – how the entry-level price points compare between 3G and 4G plans, the likelihood that a moderate 3G data user could generate significant additional ARPU by becoming a somewhat heavier user under a 4G tariff and is their a potential for LTE pricing to provide a relatively affordable fixed broadband replacement ?

And the answers to these questions is as summarized below,

• Generally, entry-level pricing for LTE is significantly higher than for HSPA / 3G except in the US and Australia where LTE and 3G pricing are identical.
• LTE pricing is substantially higher than 3G pricing in Europe for mid to high-usage levels, and are looking forward to use LTE to raise data pricing generally.
• Offering Tethering on 4G LTE – Both AT&T and Verizon offer a $20 stepup (to a 4GB data plan) before users can use their SmartPhones as personal Wi-Fi hotspots.
• Finally, 4G LTE data pricing is generally high enough to discourage most users from replacing their fixed broadband connection, with the exception of Telenor in Sweden offering UNLIMITED Data Plans, Airtel in India Offering 18GB Data at $40 and Rogers Communications in Canada Offering 10GB Data at $50.

Stay tuned for the next post on Pricing of 4G LTE Services Globally.