We are all familiar with different data plans for users with different devices and budgets; these are also known as tiered plans for the service providers. These plans offer varying uplink (and occasionally downlink) speeds, quota and additional offers for specific services. Generally, this is a post-paid market providing connectivity to both residential and business customers. In mature markets, the competition to attract new customers has shifted towards bundling services and ensuring a good customer experience, to complement claims to have the 'fastest' or 'best' network. Essentially, as a consumer, you get what you pay for and it's worth doing your homework for the best deal. However it's worth highlighting that there remains a large market of users yet to be connected and if the goal for communication service providers is to expand market share then taking a look at this part of the market is worthwhile.

It is well established that the internet is an essential aspect of life, but, surprisingly there are a significant number of households remain unconnected. For example, in the UK, 25% (7 million) of households, from a recent government report^[1] are unconnected, in France it's 8%^[2], in Germany 9%^[3], and in the US 20%^[4]. This is partly due to geographic remoteness, but economic factors also play a role.

In maturing markets where connectivity is becoming more essential it is important to rethink more on the aspects of market development such as quota, prepay and service options. Essentially giving additional variables to add to the mix. Both mature and maturing markets could potentially learn from each other in developing plans and options for connectivity that could help close this gap.

The solution requires flexibility to build new plan offers quickly as well as being to analyze consumption. Combining these offers with voice access, effectively providing landline access and additional calling minutes, adds more value. It enables a new user to connect with a number outside of apps or mobile devices. Voice connectivity is more common in maturing markets, while data access is the primary focus in mature markets.

Enabling different speeds and different restrictions (publicized, with user consent) can allow the price point to decrease and consequently become more attractive for budget conscious new users. In reality, smart phone consumption has shifted some time ago, from being measured in megabyte (MB) to gigabyte (GB); but this is not the same for all users. Users who are connecting for the first time and avoiding video streaming may consume a lot less. For example, compared to browsing, emailing, and messaging, video streaming can consume 10X to 15X the amount of data, depending on the resolution of video.

This is where Enea's Network DPI and traffic management software plays an important role in being able to set up multiple plans, being able to manage app access and facilitate restrictions, as agreed with the user. As discussed in 'Traffic Classification - It's more than just an IP'^[5] it is more than configuring IP addresses in a router. The service plans that can classify and restrict categories of content (e.g. auto play video ads) from consuming quota become more viable. Promoted as part of terms and conditions give the user choice of what they want to spend their data quota.

The additional value that Enea brings lies in its pre-integrated solutions. These solutions avoid the need for multiple separate entities such as load balancing, policy management, quota management and complex coordination, enabling seamless operations such as plan creation, quota management, and intelligent enforcement options. This results in a better total cost of ownership (TCO) and flexibility, as well as the analytics needed to fine-tune services and options to suit the target market.

The principle behind this is to connect the remaining group of new users through fixed access or fixed wireless access on a data offer that is more tailored to their needs. Enea is deploying new data plan services for both fixed line and mobile access.

Enea Traffic Management Solutions @ https://www.enea.com/solutions/traffic-management/ran-congestion-management/

For more information on this contact the Enea team @ https://info.enea.com/contact-us

Reference

[1] https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld5803/ldselect/ldcomm/219/219.pdf

[2] https://www.statista.com/statistics/377711/household-internet-access-in-france/

[3] https://www.statista.com/statistics/377677/household-internet-access-in-germany/

[4] https://www.allconnect.com/blog/key-internet-statistics#:~:text=In%20the%20United%20States%2C%201,sixth%20fastest%20in%20the%20world.

[5] https://www.enea.com/insights/traffic-classification-network-dpi-its-more-than-ip/

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