ARPU Shrinking… Shrinking… Shrinking…
The Yankee Group, as these analyst groups are known to do, has gone out on the the limb we call “obvious” by suggesting that wireless carriers will face decreasing average revenue per user over the next few years. Of course, this is the sort of thing that makes carriers sweat, but is a pretty standard part of any tech business. Over time, prices decrease. It’s not a good or bad thing, but a fact of economic progression. For carriers, though, it should also lead to more customers, and the opportunities to offer additional types of applications and services. However, by now, just about everyone should realize that ARPUs for just about any type of service are decreasing. Broadband service, telephone service… all decreasing in price, which is why everyone is so focused on bundles. Bundles may decrease the overall ARPU for a particular service — but decrease churn and increase overall ARPU across the sum of the services (though, at a lower rate than simply adding the bundled services together).
