COMPLIMENTARY ADVISORY REPORT

The Emergence of Qualitative Mobile Broadband FUPs:
A Transparency Problem in the Making

| December 3, 2009 | Wireless Services - Europe | Advisory Report

| Analyst: Emma Mohr-McClune, Research Director, Consumer Services Europe

Mobile broadband FUPs (fair usage policies) are evolving beyond quantitative, measurable data quotas (e.g., xGB/ month) to include more ambiguous, contextual considerations such as application choice, level of network congestion at time of usage, average consumption and other non-quantitative defining criteria.

This new, more qualitative approach to FUP wording is part of a wider, traffic-shaping movement, as operators look to better manage and off-set their HSPA+ networks. While traffic shaping makes sense from a network management point of view, the result of a new qualitative approach will inevitably muddy the ‘fair usage’ waters, leading to a higher potential for end-user misunderstanding and mismanagement.

For a mobile broadband FUP to be ‘fair,’ it should at least attempt to be transparent, but transparency is the first victim of this new approach. Is the fat pipe attempting to be too smart for end-user tastes?

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