Global broadband to become universal service?

Worldwide broadband subscribers have reportedly passed the 400 million mark, and some telco planners are now seriously looking at broadband as their “dialtone” service in both wireline and wireless—but beyond 2011.

The decision to move to a universal broadband delivery would increase capex, but it is apparently being driven by the cost of the dualistic voice/data structure that is now in place. The barrier is monetization of broadband, which has lagged expectations for both wireless and wireline. Operators believe that additional capital and operational savings are also likely to be necessary. We provide some insight into current operator views of the future in the next issue of Netwatcher which will be released this weekend.