M/C Venture Partners released its annual list of the top 10 communications, technology and digital media industry trends to watch in 2011. It's conclusion: 2011 will be the year of mobile broadband.
The firm concludes that higher speed mobile services will impact a number of sectors in the communications services industry, including fiber networks and DSL.
M/C predicts that distributed local fiber networks will emerge as key enablers of broadband wireless, which makes sense given operator's preferences for fiber backhaul. It also said mobile broadband networks will spur the erosion of DSL-type services.
"Telcos stand to lose much of their market share over the next five years if they depend on DSL technologies as their primary broadband offering," the company said. "Many DSL customers will move to broadband wireless offerings because of competitive costs and the convenience of mobility. Further in the future, as competitive intensity heats up, consumers may benefit from multi-device mobile broadband packages on a single bill."
M/C also predicted that smartphones would benefit from broadband network improvements because the devices currently use less than 60 percent of their true performance capabilities thanks to network performance limitations of 3G. With HSPA+ and LTE networks, that gap will close rather quickly, the firm said.
For more:
- see this cellular-news article
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