Operators have identified a series of cost reduction strategies that in tandem can help cut 60% per annum from mobile data costs, according to research from Bridgewater Systems.
Effective policy control systems can contribute annual cost savings of over 10%, the mobile personalization company said. In the US market, this translates to $15 billion in annual cost savings.
Operators with a data traffic offload strategy, such as Wi-Fi, femtocells or 4G can meanwhile expect savings of 20-25% per annum by 2013 - $30-40 billion in the US market.
The remaining cost savings could come from the evolution to HSPA and LTE – which will reduce costs by 20% - and the introduction of flexible, dynamic pricing models that better align data pricing with network costs. Examples include tiered and usage-based models, and application-specific charging.