On of the big debates in the USA is on Network Neutrality rules and legislation. A more subtle part of the lobbying efforts is targeted at the mobile Internet.
It is very well knownnow that Iphone users have quite a different usage pattern than owners of other mobile devices. The casual use of the Internet is so easy and seductive that a much higher data volume is the result.
For AT&T this has resulted in higher revenues and complaints from disappointed users.
This fact is apparently used in the lobbying efforts : a warning of a ‘ Mobile Meltdown‘ is issued. With a not very subtle undertone: ” we will need usage based pricing otherwise we cannot manage the network, a small minority will crowd out everybody else” , ” if Net Neutrality rules will be enforced there is no reason to invest in the badly needed mobile infrastructure”.
The funny part is that no data is available, no hard numbers are used. So lets do some guesswork.
Mobile data volumes are tiny compared to fixed data volumes, so the fixed network can easily sustain a (flat fee) mobile backhaulvolume.The difference is in cell-towers and the connection between the cell-tower and the existing fixed network.
I am told that a good celltower will set you back 150.000 euro’s, all included. A good backhaul connection (lets assume microwave, 100/100 Mbps, SDH to support voice) costs 100.000 euro’s. (Fiber is an option dependent on the local situation).
Lets depreciate it in 7 years, assume a WACC of 8 % and a maintenance cost of 6 % of CAPEX per year.Total costs: 70 k Euro/year.
Lets assume a 50/50 split between voice and data, so 35 k Euro/year for data. For that you allocate 50 Mbps to data traffic. Lets assume that in a mobile data subscription 15 euro is used to cover these costs for a flat fee/high data usage subsription.
