A new report published this year by ARCchart, estimates that the loss of carrier broadband subscription revenues caused by user adoption of mobile tethering will reach $50 billion by year 2016. The report analyses how mobile tethering, which leverages on mobile broadband connection sharing, impacts future revenue streams and the overall mobile ecosystem in existing communications service providers (CSPs). The report also covers the market drivers and possible barriers to adoption of mobile tethering among users, and forecasts the future market growth for enabled handsets, their usage, and service revenues derived from tethering.
"Gadgets such as tablets, e-book readers, netbooks and gaming consoles are growing in popularity, and the ability to connect these to the Internet dramatically increases their utility and value. Mobile tethering is the ability to use a mobile phone as a modem or router to enable an Internet connection on another mobile gadget, and has important implications across the mobile ecosystem."