Page Impressions Ltd Blogcetera: UK Mobile Dongle User Numbers – Feb/March 2009

Monday, February 23, 2009

UK Mobile Dongle User Numbers – Feb/March 2009

I have been researching the number of users now using 3G mobile dongles to link to the Internet in order to offer some insight into this largely hidden phenomenon.

Globally the market for 3G dongles is set to grow from 20 million units in 2008 to 26 million units in 2009 despite the downturn.

In Europe, some of the strongest growth has been recorded mainly due to the near saturation level of mobile usage compared to other parts of the world due to aggressive marketing push from the operators and the handset manufacturers.  This has resulted in an interesting development amongst Generation Y, those users born between 1978-2000.  This group have led the way in not bothering with fixed access telephony and are consequently adopting the 3G Dongle as their preferred method of Internet access.  Much of this growth is based on competitive all-you-can-eat tariffs and ease of use.

In the UK, which makes up approximately 3.5% of worldwide dongle sales, the mobile dongle user community now makes up over 4% of the overall broadband market.  These figures may not seem very impressive; however, with overall dongle sales set in 2009 to see 15% growth over 2008 and with the traditional broadband market at a standstill, the dongle market is likely to continue to make significant in-roads into the broadband market in 2009.  With increasing choice of low cost tariffs and user numbers in the UK could easily top one million by the end of 2009.

UK Market – February 2009

No

Operator

Number of Users

% Share

Comment

1

3

255,000

34%

The established leader of the dongle market, 3 has led the pack with its innovative pricing packages.

2

T-Mobile

161,000

22%

T-Mobile has used the UK as its primary test market for their dongle strategy and their innovative “webNwalk” service.

3

Vodafone

132,000

18%

Vodafone is the fastest growing of the major networks aggressively promoting and subsidising dongles because they are viewed as a secondary device that provides additional revenues for carriers beyond a traditional handset.

4

O2 (Dongles only)

122,000

16%

02 were the first major mobile network to enter the broadband market in the UK following its acquisition of Be, however, this seems to have been a distraction which has slowed their adoption of a dongle strategy.

5

Orange

57,000

7.7% 

Orange seem to stumble from drama to crisis.  Their 3G Dongle strategy is little better.  They are seeing declining share of the broadband market and have been slow to put together a competitive offering for the dongle market.

6

Virgin Mobile

15,000

 2%

Somewhat off the pace with their 3G dongle priced at £15 per month running over T-Mobiles network as MVNO.

 

Total

742,000

 

 

To get an accurate picture, a number of published and unpublished sources have been used.  One needs to guard against the marketing hype that is put about regarding sales of individual networks, but the 3G dongle market is viewed as an area of vital importance by the mobile networks.  It will be interesting to see how the traditional ISPs respond.  Late in 2008, BT Broadband started to offer a WiFi dongle that connected to their network hotspots, BT Openzone, to their customers as an extension of their standard contract.  Neither  Sky or Tiscali have a competitive offering as yet, although Tiscali could still make a good fit for Vodafone.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

louboutin pas cher, converse pas cher, true religion jeans, nike free, longchamp, true religion outlet, coach purses, nike trainers, burberry, coach outlet, air max, new balance pas cher, replica handbags, true religion jeans, nike roshe run, nike roshe, north face, ralph lauren pas cher, sac guess, mulberry, true religion jeans, timberland, michael kors, tn pas cher, longchamp pas cher, ray ban pas cher, nike huarache, nike air max, north face, hermes, oakley pas cher, vans pas cher, hollister, ray ban uk, hollister pas cher, abercrombie and fitch, ralph lauren uk, nike blazer, michael kors, sac longchamp, nike free run uk, air force, lululemon, michael kors, air jordan pas cher, nike air max, lacoste pas cher, hogan, nike air max, michael kors, vanessa bruno

Unknown said...

toms shoes, canada goose uk, sac louis vuitton pas cher, canada goose, hollister, barbour jackets, converse outlet, barbour, louis vuitton, bottes ugg, moncler, marc jacobs, louis vuitton, supra shoes, juicy couture outlet, moncler, moncler, montre pas cher, moncler, doke gabbana outlet, replica watches, ugg pas cher, louis vuitton, canada goose, karen millen, pandora jewelry, moncler, ugg,ugg australia,ugg italia, doudoune canada goose, coach outlet, pandora charms, swarovski crystal, links of london, pandora jewelry, canada goose, lancel, louis vuitton, wedding dresses, moncler, pandora charms, canada goose outlet, moncler, ugg boots uk, thomas sabo, canada goose outlet, juicy couture outlet, ugg,uggs,uggs canada, canada goose, swarovski, moncler outlet
ninest123 16.02

Unknown said...

HomepageResources great post to readyou could try these out this pagenavigate to these guys

steycough said...

this websiteread what he said Get More Infowhy not find out more this contact formimportant link

mcshesea said...

w6g48s0j49 e5f62x2a88 v0b58b5t08 k3f61n1x47 i2o59e9i65 s9k54h6w76