Could it be that investments to roll out faster cellular networks like 3G and LTE would only be wasted in the future as a new report predicted that tablets deployed with high-speed cellular connectivity will hardly be the must-have devices over the next four years?

Research firm CCS Insight said on its report, issued last week, that the high bills attributed to wireless broadband connection could actually dwarf the projected growth of LTE-enabled tablet computers, functions that were already present in Android bricks and is believed to be on the way for the new iPad release by Apple early next year.

Current trends showed that "most users do not regard cellular connectivity in tablets as a must-have, especially given the current price of tablets and mobile data subscriptions," the research group was quoted by FierceWireless in a report Friday last week.

It likely, CCS Insight said, that how consumers use their tablet will be the main factor that will shape the tablet market over the next few years and not the availability of high-speed cellular network from telcos.

Key telcos from around the world have been ramping up their efforts to improve their telecommunication infrastructures to speed up network connectivity through better technologies like 3G and LTE, the latter able to accommodate bandwidth speeds that could even exceed wired connections.

In conjunction with that business model, gadget manufacturers have started including LTE capability with their products, with about half of the total tablet computers shipped in 2011 cellular-enabled, FierceWireless said.

But CCS Insight is convinced that the trend will be reversed as tablet users increasingly prefer Wi-Fi connections to cutback on communication expenses.

The behaviour has become apparent despite data plans that telcos hope would lure more subscribers and revenues, the research analyst said.

It turned out that in terms of maximum wireless connectivity, 3G or LTE have yet to beat out Wi-Fi, CCS Insight said.

It will not be surprised, the report added, if manufacturers would abandon cellular-connectivity altogether considering indications that many users do not actually turn on such capability in the name of practicality.

By 2016, the shares of cellular-enabled tablets could shrink by as much as 37 per cent, CCS Insight said.

"In the future, the share of cellular-enabled tablets will be determined by three factors: the availability and attractiveness of multi-device tariffs from mobile operators; the availability of public Wi-Fi networks; and the difference between the retail prices of cellular and Wi-Fi only tablets," the research firm said.

The report came out in the aftermath of an earlier study that suggested tablets will become the preferred computing tool by global users in a few years time, its explosion largely attached with the availability of faster internet connections.

But as the new paper from CCS Insight showed, mobile computing may not rely too soon on the highly-touted LTE technology as users find their Wi-Fi connectivity relatively cheaper and still reliable at the same time.