Pokémon Go not augmenting wireless data reality

Though the success of Nintendo Co. Ltd.’s Pokémon Go mobile game could be the tip of the iceberg for augmented-reality applications, experts said they don’t expect wireless companies to make any major shifts in the way they offer data. “In terms of the wireless data, it’s still video that’s driving most of the growth and consumption,” Desmond Lau, an analyst with Veritas, said in a phone interview. Troy Crandall, an analyst with 3Macs, agreed and said that the game itself — which was released in Canada over the weekend (though Canadians have been playing it through workarounds since its July 6 U.S. release) — isn’t likely to change how carriers looks at their data plans. “It’s one more thing,” Crandall said in a phone interview. “Similar like with YouTube and watching video on the go, it’s one more thing that consumes data.” Unlike Pokémon Go, video streaming is more likely to be done while connected to a WiFi network, said Lau. “But there are certain shifts that are causing customers to use a bit more off the network.” For example, Facebook Inc.’s application preloads video that autoplays as users scroll through their feeds unless they change their settings to stop it, he said, adding that there are also video-heavy applications such as Instagram and Snapchat Inc.’s service, “and not every customer is going to be as conscious to say ‘oh I’m not going to look at this Snapchat feed until I get to a WiFi network.’ I’m going to just take a look at it now.” The growth in data consumption has pushed wireless providers to increase the amount of data available in their customers’ packages for the past decade, Crandall said. “Back in the old days, in the mid 2000s, with your BlackBerry you were allowed 50 MB of data a month. That 50 MB has turned into 500 MB and then turned into 5 GB. That keeps increasing over time,” Crandall said. “The price is increasing somewhat as well, but I think on a per-megabyte basis, one could say prices are actually going down versus what they were say in the mid 2000s. So the trend is for data packages to get bigger and bigger over time.” But the popularity of the game — which has prompted scores of wannabe-Pokemasters to hit the streets in search of animated creatures to capture and train — should be sparking a conversation about data caps on wireless plans, according to OpenMedia. The advocacy group calculated that an average Pokémon Go player would use about 7.16 MB per day, based on a third-party estimate of the app’s daily average use of 43 minutes, totalling about 215 MB per month. “When you consider a lot of Canadians are on 500 MB plans or 1 GB plans and that the whole point of the game is that you’re out and about and probably not close to a WiFi network, I think that will get people thinking about data caps for sure,” David Christopher, OpenMedia spokesman, said in a phone interview. “Given that this game is so addictive and people are playing it so much and every day, you’ve got to think there are a lot of people getting some shocking wireless bills at the end of the month as a result.” The Wireless Code, put into the place by the CRTC at the end of 2013, aimed to mitigate bill shock by implementing a $50 cap on data overage charges. A recent study on the effectiveness of the code highlighted the growing use of data and noted that it was “important for the CRTC to ensure the wireless code fully reflects and addresses Canadians' increased interest in data in wireless plans.” OpenMedia addressed wireless data caps in its recent submission to the CRTC’s proceeding on differential pricing. The group is calling for the CRTC to mandate the addition of unlimited wireless data plans “at a reasonable price.” “At the moment… none of the national mobile providers in Canada are offering an unlimited data option at all at any price,” Christopher said. “We need to bring it into line with some other countries around the world. If you look at the U.K., for the equivalent of about $30 a month there you can get an unlimited plan with unlimited data that works right across the country and unlimited calls and texts and all the rest of it. “ According to an OpenMedia report on data caps, the biggest wireless data plan available from the Big 3 is a 60 GB offer from Rogers Communications Inc. for $370. In its intervention, OpenMedia also said that “rather than raise data caps in lockstep with their customers’ average usage — in order to focus incentivizing effects on excess use rather than rising average use — service providers have in fact lowered data caps on several occasions.” “Videotron has always offered a wide and flexible range of data plans to respond to the varied needs of its wireless subscribers, including heavy usage subscribers,” Quebecor Inc.’s Videotron said in an email statement. “As for the CRTC’s roaming cap policy, we note that it was motivated by broad consumer protection considerations that go beyond the popularity of one specific new application or class of applications.” BCE Inc., Rogers, Telus Corp., Bragg Communications Inc.’s Eastlink and Shaw Communications Inc. did not respond to requests for comment. On Tuesday, T-Mobile U.S. Inc. will begin offering customers a year of free data for Pokémon Go use, through its weekly customer appreciation app. “With the carriers’ shared data schemes, players could easily burn up the family’s data bucket — and then, hello, overages,” John Legere, T-Mobile president and CEO said in a press release Thursday. “At T-Mobile, we’re unleashing Pokémon Go so our customers can play free for a year.” The move is “an example of why zero rating is a terrible idea,” Christopher said. “If I’m a game developer and I’m developing another augmented reality game that’s going to be even better than Pokémon Go, then the fact that big telecom companies are striking these deals is going to put me at a real competitive disadvantage. It’s bad for consumers and it’s also it’s bad for innovation and the digital economy as a whole.” It’s not a promotion that would be easily replicated on this side of the border, given the CRTC’s decision to ban Bell’s zero-rated mobile TV plans, which was later held up in the Federal Court of Appeal, Crandall noted. He pointed to the yet-to-be resolved complaint against Videotron’s music streaming service, saying if that is allowed, then so, too, could the practice of zero-rating all games instead of one in particular. “But then again do the carriers necessarily want that because over time, games, especially mobile games, will become more data hungry,” Crandall said. “That’s their service, a data communication company and usage is how they make their money. They want people to use it; you can’t really give it away for free.” — With reporting by Charelle Evelyn at cevelyn@thewirereport.ca and editing by Anja Karadeglija at akarad@thewirereport.ca

Pokémon Go not augmenting wireless data reality

Broadcast | July 18, 2016

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