U.S. households are expected to increasingly rely solely on mobile connections to the Internet, according to a report from Strategy Analytics.
The report predicts that by the end of this year, more than 6 million U.S. households — or roughly 6.9% of total U.S. broadband connections — will access the Internet exclusively through mobile connection, an increase of 430,000 connections compared with the end of 2010. Strategy Analytics notes that those connections will be typically through smartphones or wireless modems.
Despite the mobile increase, the report notes that more than 50% of connections will be through cable modems, with that share expected to increase slightly over the next five years. This growth will come at the expense of DSL connection, which are expected to see a drop in share.
The firm also noted that it does not expect “4G” connections to become a dominate access method for U.S. households.
“We see two parallel markets for ‘mobile only’ in the United States: users in remote or underserved areas where dependable fixed broadband is unavailable, and cost-conscious casual users, who are unlikely to exceed imposed data caps, and for whom mobile data rates are ‘good enough,’” said Ben Piper, director of the Service Provider Strategies program at Strategy Analytics.
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