Top Four U.S. Carriers Ranking, Based on the Best Practices to Protect Under-aged Users from Mobile Adult Content

1. Verizon Wireless ranks first and has offerings that are very similar to that of AT&T, which ranks a close second. Like AT&T, Verizon Wireless offers parental controls for wireless, high-speed internet service, television and landline phone service. What sets Verizon apart is that it can monitor PSMS (short codes) - the special telephone numbers or short numbers used for value-added services, such as TV voting and ringtone purchases -- and it also offers turn-by-turn directions on its LBS-based Family locator application.

2. AT&T, like Verizon Wireless, offers parental control tools for its wireless, high speed internet service, television and landline phone service. The carrier is lacking in protection for PSMS (short codes), however, and because of this we ranked them second.

3. Sprint Nextel, which ranks third, based on its inability to monitor music containing explicit lyrics on its music and video service. Like AT&T, Sprint Nextel also does not offer filters for PSMS (short codes). However, Sprint Nextel offers various parental control tools. For instance, like AT&T and Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel offers an LBS-based Sprint Family Locator, which enables parents to use a phone or PC to locate a child on a map.

4. T-Mobile comes last on in the leader board as the depth and variety of tools it offers to help parents control and filter inappropriate content seems to be fairly limited, especially when compared with the other carriers. For instance, T-Mobile is the only U.S. carrier who does not offer for the majority of its handsets a Family Locator, a LBS service, which enables parents to use a phone or PC to locate a child on a map. Of note, the carrier only offers such service on select devices (Android and BlackBerry devices) through the Android store and RIM store.

With the U.S. mobile adult content market expected to experience strong growth in the coming years, U.S. carriers need to implement more robust parental controls and true age verification systems to help parents protect their children against mobile adult content, concluded Julien Blin, Principal Analyst and CEO of JBB Research

JBB Research predicts an exponential rise in mobile adult content given the increasing openness in mobile networks, the growing popularity of sexting and off-deck content, and the expected rise in all-inclusive data plans offered by the carriers. In the coming years, the line between on and off deck is likely to become blurry as mobile app stores continue to gain momentum. This report by JBB Research is the first comprehensive look into the expected growth potential and associated actions by carriers to adult content in the United States. While U.S. carriers are currently lagging behind U.K. carriers when it comes to implementing robust age verification systems, we expect the U.S. to catch up with its European counterparts in the coming years. A number of factors will keep that number from being as high in the United States but a number of factors could result in a similar sales environment in the United States in the coming years if several measures are taken by carriers and key U.S. telecom organizations.

Among the report's key findings:

2009 is set to become the year when mobile adult content start gaining significant traction off deck. The emergence of small application developers focusing on mobile adult content for mobile app stores should remain a key driver.
By 2013, mobile adult content users will be able to enjoy a full mobile web experience across various platforms (Cell phone, PC, Laptop, digital camera, set top box, video consoles, slingbox, etc), network types (e.g. 3G, LTE, WiMAX, WiFi, etc.), and business models (e.g. subscript-xion-based, ad-based revenue model, a-la-carte), and with the best QoS anytime anywhere.
With the growing popularity of off-deck content, the growing adoption of mobile web, carriers' migration toward mobile advertising, and an open-network environment, it will become critical for carriers to offer more robust content filtering tools/parental control tools, and legitimate age verification systems.
As smartphones become more advanced and affordable with advanced live video streaming capabilities, we expect to see the emergence of new types of mobile adult content services like mobile video chat. WiMax, WiFi, and LTE, are set to become key drivers here.
As mobile advertising continue to gain momentum in the U.S., we expect to see the emergence of rich ad-funded or ad-supported mobile adult content services/content. This should help drive the price erosion, and drive the adoption of mobile adult content services.

In this report, the strategy of the leading players has been ranked and assessed (e.g. carriers, content providers/content aggregators) in the U.S. mobile adult content and services space. We also described the mobile adult content ecosystem. We also talked about the current and future trends as well as the future key growth drivers and inhibitors in the U.S. mobile adult content market. General and specific recommendations are also provided.