US : The pending 802.20 standard will help alleviate many of the current mobile wireless Internet shortcomings, a new Visant Strategies study finds, as the standard will greatly improve the mobile Internet’s price and performance.

The 2.5G and 3G mobile wireless mobile technologies now used by most wireless carriers worldwide still remain best suited for voice and low-bandwidth consumer applications, the study finds, but these technologies have limited the ability to provide reasonably-priced enterprise mobile data services and high-end consumer applications. As a result, wireless operators are forced to leave billions of dollars in potential service revenues on the table. Today, despite the mobile world’s move to the wireless Internet, messaging services accounts for over 60% of wireless data revenues globally.

“The 802.20 standard has an opportunity to remedy the mobile wireless Internet gaps,” said Visant Senior Analyst Andy Fuertes, the author of the report. “The 802.20 group is developing an IP data-optimized mobile technology, allowing 802.20 to take the path 2.5G and 3G technologies should have followed.”

“The 2.5G and 3G technologies will still do very well since most people use their handset for voice and operators have already invested billions, in many cases, into these technologies, but 802.20 represents the potential to capture high margin business and heavy bandwidth data users with moderate capital investment,” Fuertes said. By 2009, there will be 30 million 802.20 users worldwide, according to “802.20: The Assessment of a Wide Area Data Opportunity.”

The 802.16 and 802.20 standards will be utilized by two different types of carriers, the study also finds. The 802.16 networks will be deployed by fixed carriers initially targeting stationary broadband users while 802.20 will be used by mobile carriers in an effort to offer high-end data services.