Mobile Vs. Wired Broadband Speeds: A Reversal Ahead?

Mobile substitution has been a nightmare for fixed network service providers, the chief case in point being consumer purchases of “voice services.” In many markets, including the United States, consumers simply are abandoning use of fixed network voice, in favor of mobile calling. At the same time, cable companies have become the clear alternate suppliers of fixed network calling, so telcos have lost market share, as well.

So the issue is whether “mobile substitution” could happen to Internet access, arguably the pillar supporting fixed network business models. Up to this point, that has not really been a big issue. It is something of a truism that fixed network Internet access is “faster” than mobile Internet access. True, Long Term Evolution has made US mobile Internet access considerably “faster.” But the gigabit access trend only makes the gap wider, even if the immediate practical impact, in many cases, is a boost in fixed network speeds to 100 Mbps or 200 Mbps. Still, the rule of thumb is that fixed Internet access is “always” about an order of magnitude, or sometimes two orders of magnitude, faster than mobile access.