"Pricing has a critical role to play in growing voice revenue
and stimulating take-up and usage of new data services. However, wrong
pricing decisions now could create barriers to growth and may have long-term
consequences. Bundled pricing, when properly implemented, is a powerful
technique to drive revenue growth in the short and long term."
Pricing decisions have never been more important for mobile operators.
Pricing has an immediate role to play in maintaining and growing mobile
voice usage and ARPU, and kick-starting much-needed new revenue from mobile
data services. It can also have a major impact on the relationship between
operators and their customers, and the long term effects of this on churn
and price competition. However, mobile service pricing is a complex subject,
complicated by the sheer diversity of services, and mobile operators face
many pitfalls. Operators must attempt to extract the full revenue potential
of each service while taking account of a wide variety of factors, including
affordability for end-users, the unique capacity and cost limitations of
cellular technology, and the ability to differentiate from competitors.
Pricing Mobile Data Services for Success defines seven golden rules for
mobile pricing, as a framework for maximising overall ARPU and
profitability. It shows that the emerging approach of bundled pricing
adheres well to these rules and discusses how bundled pricing can be applied
to deliver major benefits to mobile operators in both the short and long
term. The report also evaluates flat-rate pricing, in effect an extreme form
of bundled pricing, where unlimited usage of services is provided for a
defined price.