There is a growing concern that wireless providers in the United States and Europe may soon begin increasing the cost of mobile data plans, with flat-rate data plans expected to end as consumers migrate to 4th Generation (4G) mobile data networks.
The "all-you-can-eat" data plans currently offered by the four major U.S. providers, along with many Asian and European subscribers, are becoming less popular now that data use is expected to increase even more.
For example, TeliaSonera spent $70 million to build a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network -- and has seen mobile data use increase more than 200 percent during 2009 -- though total subscriber numbers didn't dramatically increase.
Other wireless providers are complaining of the same problem, as new smartphone users begin to browse the web, send e-mail, tweet, and use other social networking services.
"Finding a way to make mobile profitable in the medium and long term is one of the industry's big priorities," said Mike Roberts, Informa Telecoms & Media analyst, in a statement to the New York Times. "We are now at the early stages of figuring out a way forward."
A tiered pricing system seems the most likely outcome, with wireless providers charging heavy data plan users a higher fee than others.
TeliaSonera offers 3G data plans that range from 2GB to 20GB of data use for $5.50 to $50 per month. Subscribers who want to use the LTE network can use a base plan that offers a 30GB cap for $83 per month -- the higher price tag comes with download speeds from 20 to 40 megabits per second.
Several industry leading companies ranging from AT&T and Verizon Wireless to Vodafone already believe it's time to shift towards tiered pricing schemes. It’s possible a higher price for mobile data will also ease network traffic on AT&T, which especially has had issues dealing with high data use.
