The effect of mobile broadband on operator revenue - Is mobile broadband ARPU making up for the decline in voice?

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Although mobile broadband ARPU (average revenue per user) has not completely offset declines in voice revenue for mobile operators at the global level, it has gone some way to stabilise falling blended ARPUs for those operators who have deployed mobile broadband networks and built up a high level of smartphone penetration within their customer base. A global study of the difference in blended ARPU between mobile broadband operators and those operators that do not provide mobile broadband services shows that the latter group have seen their average blended ARPU decrease at twice the rate of that of the former over the past five years. While a lack of reported data on the subject means that it is not possible at this time to identify a direct relationship between mobile broadband ARPU and blended ARPU, the findings above are reinforced by case studies of selected operators who, despite seeing falling voice ARPU, have all maintained stable blended ARPU since launching mobile broadband networks in 2005.