Heavy users of mobile data face higher fees

People who make heavy use of the web on their mobile phones will soon have to pay more for mobile data as "sanity" in pricing returns to an industry that has charged a premium for voice calls while offering unlimited data plans for relatively modest fees, the chief executive of KPN said on Tuesday.

Like other telecoms groups, the Dutch company has seen an explosion in mobile data use across its networks in the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium. KPN has now identified mobile data as a strategic opportunity in its two main foreign markets, where it has previously focused on voice traffic.

Ad Scheepbouwer, chief executive, said in the long run data would overtake voice in importance. He echoed others in the industry, such as AT&T in the US, which have concluded that offering customers uniform "all-you-can" data tariffs has become unsustainable as demand from smartphones and laptops surges.

"You have to differentiate between the very heavy users, the very light users and the people in between," Mr Scheepbouwer told the Financial Times. "You have to put the bill where it belongs."

"Voice is also data but it's a very light use of data," he said. "In five years' time, maybe 10 per cent of the use of a phone will be voice and the other 90 per cent will be data. In the end there will also be sanity in terms of pricing, so that people pay little for voice and start to pay more for data."

Last year KPN made about €500m ($650m) in revenues from mobile data - a small proportion of the €13.5bn total revenues generated by the group - but Mr Scheepbouwer said the annual growth rate for the service was between 50 and 60 per cent and still accelerating. As recently as 2005, more than 95 per cent of the market was focused on voice calls and text messages.

KPN, which is the number three mobile operator in both Belgium and Germany, is hoping to gain up to a quarter of the market for mobile data in both countries once it rolls out new higher-speed services later this year in Belgium and by the middle of next year in Germany.

In the Netherlands, the group has been attempting to compensate for the demise of its legacy fixed-line telephone business by offering over-the-air digital television and laying fibre-optic cable for high-speed internet services and TV.

Mr Scheepbouwer said he expected to offer the BBC's domestic UK television channels on KPN's television services from next year - undermining a key advantage for cable, currently the only outlet to carry BBC1 and 2, which enjoy cult Dutch following.

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