Premium pricing for business mobility

Brian Condron believes mobile networks in the enterprise are under strain, so business users need guaranteed service levels

The use of smartphones and other mobile broadband devices has been accelerating, but the wireless spectrum is becoming crowded, with 3G network congestion and a resultant deterioration in the user experience.

Consequently, mobile operators have been ploughing huge amounts of money into their networks, building more transmitters in an attempt to enable more connections. However, the networks are still being overused, in my opinion.

Mobile operators are therefore unable to guarantee network availability to business users, and it has been noticed that they do not offer them any form of service level agreement (SLA) to guarantee service.

It is hoped that new technology will solve this problem in the future, thus improving bandwidth. But this is not a solution we can rely on in the immediate future.

I believe that operators could consider introducing a new higher-rate business tariff specifically for business users, providing guaranteed SLAs for a premium package, and keeping consumers on a lower-rate tariff with no guaranteed service levels.

Delivering SLAs would prove popular, but the cost could be high.

Enterprises themselves can help minimise the effects of poor network quality by encouraging the use of Wi-Fi networks, rather than 3G and the like.

While Wi-Fi use drained mobile phone batteries in the early days, the devices themselves have evolved, so this is no longer such a problem. If users are encouraged to connect to the enterprise wireless network – or public Wi-Fi networks where available – this will help to reduce the strain on the mobile network.

Calls can also be redirected over the corporate network to avoid having to use networks that are already congested.

Mobile operators are clearly trying to address the problem and over the next few years 4G technology should emerge. But enterprises need to take action by managing mobile use and encouraging the Wi-Fi use.

Brian Condron is business development manager at Kcom