Analysys : Mobile Operators Can Drive ARPU with Bundled Pricing,

Tekrati Research News covers a new report from Analysys that finds "the emerging approach of bundled pricing is a powerful technique for driving mobile voice usage and kick-starting much-needed new revenue from mobile data services."

Alastair Brydon at Sound Partners said, "Affordable bundled pricing has been fundamental to mobile operators in the USA achieving average voice usage that is over five times higher than in Western Europe. Bundled pricing can be even more effective when extended to multiple voice and data services within a bundle."

Brydon added that "Bundles can encourage users to adopt and use more data services than they would if the services were purchased individually."

Dr. Mark Heath at Sound Partners said, "By establishing ongoing communication with customers and offering incremental refinements to their service bundles, mobile operators can strengthen loyalty and may be able to migrate customers to higher-value bundles over time. A particular benefit of bundled pricing is that it reduces the emphasis on the price of individual services, making it more difficult for customers to compare prices among competing operators."

Analysys noted "there is growing interest among mobile operators in flat-rate pricing, whereby subscribers are offered unlimited usage of one or more services for a fixed price. While flat-rate pricing has the benefit of simplicity, unlimited service usage can have serious implications and therefore must be handled with care. Furthermore, flat-rate pricing makes operators more susceptible to price competition and could make it difficult to generate additional revenue from increased usage of existing services or take-up of new data services."