There’s been some speculation that despite the economic downturn, mobile broadband will continue to grow. It’s a relatively new industry, and people are just beginning to realize the vast benefits of taking work on the road. However, it appears that those claims don’t reflect reality, as U.S. mobile broadband growth slowed in the fourth quarter. This has to concern carriers, who have done little during this downturn to make their standard cellular offerings any better for consumers (with the exception of T-Mobile’s unlimited plan). Without the additional broadband revenue, carriers could be in a fix.
After seeing double-digit percentage gains for most of the recent past — including a number of quarters in the 20s, growth fell off a cliff in the fourth quarter to just 5 percent. Growth for the year was 163 percent, up from 157 percent in 207, but it’s not nearly to the point where people had hoped.
Does this mean anything for the future of mobile broadband? It might make carriers think twice about spending billions to create more robust networks, though that’s obviously not a certainty. Carriers were counting on additional mobile broadband revenues, though, so it could throw a wrench into at least some plans.
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