Broadband could save mobile revenues

Broadband could help not only to safeguard mobile phone operators' revenues for the future, but also ensure continued performance of their networks.

A new report from Juniper Research notes the extent to which saturation in the mobile phones space has impacted upon operators' revenues in recent years.

With fewer people left to buy a phone for the first time, the market is turning into one of renewals only.

But broadband offers one way to help lower the ongoing costs faced by mobile service providers, by carrying video content in new ways.

The Integrated Mobile Broadcast standard, announced by the Global System for Mobile communications Association (GSMA) in 2009, uses mobile devices' 3G broadband capabilities to receive multimedia content.

On its launch two years ago, the GSMA explained that the technology filled a space in the 3G transmission spectrum, allowing the broadcast range to be utilised to a fuller extent.

Now Juniper Research calls it "a potentially cost-effective means of offloading video traffic from the network" for mobile operators keen to preserve their profitability.