22 February 2007

Per-second billing for mobile voice and data will become a thing of the past
as operators are forced to deliver all-you-can-eat fixed-price packages,
industry experts predicted today.

Joel Stradling, a senior analyst at
Current
Analysis, told delegates at the
NetEvents
symposium in Evian today that the industry's move towards next-generation 4G
mobile data services would sound the death knell for traditional usage-based
billing, despite the fact that it would hit profits hard.

"Mobile operators are not keen on offering always-on single-priced flat-rate
services but I think it is inevitable for the future," he said.