Also, GSM network std for SMS is 160 characters! So, if your researchers values of the file size of an SMS is correct, he would need 6554 smses.
Interestingly, mobile data usage is 3rd highest in SA, behind the US and India respectively. BUT, comparatively the US market share is 8 times us and India is 11 times greater with mobile penetration, we are doing great!
woganmay
· 1 year ago
American and European networks can afford to do the uncapped access thing, but there are Fair Use limits in the TOC, which basically boil down to a certain (very small) amount per day. Or something like that.
I think the 140-character thing was my mistake, lol. But the 7490-number was his, so I'll leave it all uncorrected for sake of posterity. Maybe European networks have different standards for things like SMS? Either way, it's still very expensive.
Apparently we should hit 100% penetration in SA at some point. I've gone and misplaced the link, but if I find it again I'll let you know. Overall, the mobile industry in SA really is something to behold...
HoTsTePPa
· 1 year ago
yeah, as of july last year SA had 87.08% cell phone penetration. These figures are of course skewed by ppl who use more than one sim card. But yeah, collectively Europe has already passed 100% and were on 110.15% in July last year.
Interestingly though, SA at the same time only had 8.16% internet enabled desktop/laptop penetration.
Theres no doubt that mobile based data services will become mainstream and with so many huge corporates entering this space, Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, Sun and even Facebook, public awareness of the capabilities of the mobile browsers will increase and expect to see many many web services being ported onto a mobile platform!
woganmay
· 1 year ago
I have 4 SIM cards, lol. But I only use one, now. So the actual penetration is probably much lower - but it's still (as you've indicated) far higher than desktop/fixed/broadband Internet access. Which makes sense - bundled data is cheaper and eaiser to use. Plus no set-up fees.
To be honest, I actually only use Gmail and Opera Mini 3 on any sort of regular basis - the latter is mostly for Twitter. I prefer desktop access. Keyboards > keypads.
Sounds like you did some hectic research for that paper. When and where are you planning on publishing?
All Comments
Actually, O2 has a uncapped solution that costs GBP45 and in SA, last year Vodacom dropped their data pricing by up to 61% with its cheapest offering at 19 cents per MB. have a look at
http://www.telecomspricing.com/node/63 and http://telecomspricing.co.uk/node/16.
Also, GSM network std for SMS is 160 characters! So, if your researchers values of the file size of an SMS is correct, he would need 6554 smses.
Interestingly, mobile data usage is 3rd highest in SA, behind the US and India respectively. BUT, comparatively the US market share is 8 times us and India is 11 times greater with mobile penetration, we are doing great!
I think the 140-character thing was my mistake, lol. But the 7490-number was his, so I'll leave it all uncorrected for sake of posterity. Maybe European networks have different standards for things like SMS? Either way, it's still very expensive.
Apparently we should hit 100% penetration in SA at some point. I've gone and misplaced the link, but if I find it again I'll let you know. Overall, the mobile industry in SA really is something to behold...
Interestingly though, SA at the same time only had 8.16% internet enabled desktop/laptop penetration.
Theres no doubt that mobile based data services will become mainstream and with so many huge corporates entering this space, Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, Sun and even Facebook, public awareness of the capabilities of the mobile browsers will increase and expect to see many many web services being ported onto a mobile platform!
To be honest, I actually only use Gmail and Opera Mini 3 on any sort of regular basis - the latter is mostly for Twitter. I prefer desktop access. Keyboards > keypads.
Sounds like you did some hectic research for that paper. When and where are you planning on publishing?