Creating a successful mobile Internet service clearly requires hard work and strong partners. As the Canadian experience shows, however, a successful service creates even more work for operators and becomes a learning experience for everyone involved. Users, on the other hand, quickly become spoiled and come to expect a completely seamless service on which they can rely. Delays or interruptions will not be tolerated.

The Mobile Internet experience in Canada

Canadian Mobitex operator Rogers AT&T Wireless in cooperation with several business partners offers users a rich mobile Internet experience that includes a variety of messaging, information, m-commerce and entertainment services. The RIM 957 handheld was launched with the BlackBerry Internet edition and the GoAmerica browser in July 2000 and became an immediate success. Although messaging still accounts for the majority of traffic, use of other services is increasing. Average revenue per user (ARPU) is CAD 43 per month and rising.

"Simplicity and reliability are the two key factors for our users," notes David Neale, vice president for network strategy and product development at Rogers AT&T Wireless and former MOA chairman. "Of course, Mobitex technology is extremely reliable, so users can count on messages reaching their recipient and transactions completing successfully. The service also is very user-friendly and provides the mobile Internet experience that users want."

For operators and other providers wishing to offer a successful mobile Internet service, however, there are some important lessons to be learned from Canada. "Long latencies and interruptions of service are totally unacceptable," explains David Neale, adding that users quickly become accustomed and dependant to an interactive service that makes information available wherever they are. "If the service doesn't work, users don't understand why. They just get upset very quickly."


Creating personal profiles
"What we have learned from focus groups and other studies is that most customers are unable to differentiate between content, transport or application layer failures," reveals David Neale. "This means that mobile Internet services must be very tightly integrated and that content and service providers and application developers must work together to provide a user experience that is totally seamless."

"Operators must realize that there are also multiple points of failure, such as web mail, gateway and redirector services for messaging," continues David Neale. "While it may be tempting to offer many different kinds of services, they must be totally reliable before they are launched. Operators must also remember that users want simple services and that all services need to be tested with actual users before they go live."

To enhance the user experience, Rogers AT&T Wireless allows users to create personalized start pages via the operator's website. There are three pre-defined profiles, which are labeled Well Connected, Smart Business and Cool Stuff to reflect different lifestyles. After choosing one of these alternatives, the user can further customize the start page by adding different services and favorite locations and by configuring various settings. In addition to making the service more personal, the ability to customize start pages makes it easier for users to change devices or to use different devices at different times.

Interactive and location-based information and m-commerce services are steadily gaining ground. Somewhat surprisingly, the most popular service by far is weather reports, followed by search engine, travel and local information services. On the other hand, the heavy use of such services shows that people on the move are the group that find them most valuable.


Eliminating congestion
"One of the most difficult problems that we encountered in getting the service to run smoothly was congestion at base stations, particularly in sections of Toronto," reports David Neale. "Like many international cities, Toronto has a relatively small and very concentrated financial district where there may be hundreds of users trying to use the service simultaneously. In many cases, they don't move outside the base station area all day long. They also have easy access to phones and PCs connected to the Internet, but they prefer to use the wireless handheld device because it is more personal and more convenient."

Caught somewhat by surprise by the heavy traffic, Rogers AT&T Wireless was forced to act quickly to add channels and create multi-frequency sites. The Canadian Mobitex operator also found other remedies, which included increasing antenna down-tilt and reducing power.

"Our experience with mobile Internet and wireless e-mail services indicates that considerable planning is required to eliminate these congestion points. Traffic data shows that 15 percent of the customer base generates 90 percent of the traffic. These are also the users who are most likely to gather together in the same place, such as the financial district," notes David Neale.


Meeting user expectations
"We worked very hard with our partners GoAmerica and RIM to offer our customers BlackBerry with Internet services. Since the service was launched nearly two years ago, it has been tremendously successful, proving that we offer a simple, reliable and truly integrated service that users find indispensable.

"Our mobile Internet service goes from strength to strength. It has the lowest churn rate of all the many services that Rogers AT&T Wireless operates. More and more people are using it and becoming dependent on it. We couldn't ask for greater success than that," concludes David Neale.