Mobile Broadband: You're Gonna Pay for the Convenience

Sandvine (you may remember it as the company that helped Comcast block P2P files) has released data showing exactly how much people use mobile broadband — and concluded that for carriers, such use is neither sustainable nor profitable. Since the carriers are positioning themselves for the implementation of usage-based pricing schemes for mobile broadband, Sandvine is merely telling its future customers what they want to hear. But Sandvine's data also paints a very clear picture (one we've been painting for at least a year) about the economics of mobile broadband demand and use.