Pay-per-use pricing not the mobile-data solution

The need to move away from flat-rate, all-you-can-eat data pricing has become increasingly clear as data usage continues to proliferate amongst a disproportionate group of heavy users.

Many operators, including AT&T, have discussed the possibility of moving to usage-based pricing, but Andre Weber, a partner at strategy and marketing consultancy Simon Kucher & Partners, said not to expect a pay-per-use revival anytime soon. "You have to offer something in return," Weber said. "It's a big psychological issue that you are going up against when you are taking this free access to the buffet away from people." Paying for usage, based on minutes or megabytes, conflicts with today's always-on mentality prominent amongst social networkers, Weber said, and it can cause bill shock for users who forget to log out, not to mention attract high data users in short amounts of time. Consumers have gotten use to worry-free usage, and they won't take kindly to seeing that go away ­ however misinformed they are about that "benefit."