The Mobile Internet Report Key Themes*

3G =
Key to Enabling Internet Usage on Mobiles
Faster speed brings faster Internet to mobile phones – 3G, with higher throughput speed,
allows for acceptable broadband usage, key to providing multimedia usage
Lowers delivery cost for carriers / data plan pricing for consumers – 1/5 of cost per bit vs.
2.xG, consumers get unlimited usage for the same price or less
Speed & Cost
Typical Speed (Kbits per second)
Desktop Internet Equivalent
2.xG
25 – 200
(Dial-up = 56 Kbps)
3G
300 – 1500
(DSL = 1000 - 3000 Kbps)
Cost per Bit for Carriers (Normalized to 100*) 50 - 100 10
Usage Models
Watching Video Clips ✗ ✔
Listening to Streaming Music ✗ ✔
Making VoIP / Video Calls ✗ ✔
Full HTML Web Browsing Very Slow ✔
Sending Picture / Video / Large Emails Very Slow ✔
Downloading Apps Over the Air Very Slow ✔
Note: *2.5G technologies such as EDGE provide up to 50% lower cost per bit vs. 2G technologies such as GPRS.
Source: Morgan Stanley Research.
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