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Editorial: What will the Christmas period tell us about the spectrum crunch?

More spectrum is needed for mobile broadband because of increasing demand from smartphones, dongles and tablets, we are often told.

Dec 10, 2013 | Martin Sims

Tablets? Really?

To take the UK example, our much-anticipated £119 (€145) Christmas retail sensation – the Hudl – doesn’t even have a SIM slot. But it is the “Tesco Tablet”, harnessing the marketing muscle of Britain’s biggest retailer. It has sold out twice and the firm claims it sold 35,000 units in the first 48 hours.

Amazon’s entry-level Kindle Fire does not have mobile access either, and neither does the basic Nexus 7 from Google. 3G/4G capability on the Kindle Fire will cost you another £150 (€180), not including the mobile operator’s charges.

It’s no surprise that SIM-enabled devices cost more, but recent research indicates that even at the higher end of the market, it is rare for tablets to be used on mobile networks. Just over 10 per cent of iPads have mobile internet access, and this is used for only six per cent of usage sessions, according toLocalytics.

The Christmas rush is likely to see a huge growth in the number of tablets, but how many of these will have SIM cards? And how often will these SIM cards be used? Is this being factored into mobile data predictions?

There will certainly be an impact on the cellular networks, but a doubling of tablet sales definitely does not mean a doubling of mobile data usage.