"Dumb Pipe" Makes the New York Times

It is not news to communications industry professionals, but the New York Times writes about the issues for mobile service providers as "eventually, everything migrates to a data channel,” as Brian Higgins, an executive at Verizon Wireless, says.

"Much of the value in communication now sits above basic connectivity,” says Charles S. Golvin, Forrester Research analyst. Applications such as instant messaging, video calling and web conferencing can be delivered to consumers by companies like Google, Apple and Cisco, not just the carriers, he notes.

The problem is that the enduring service of the future is "access" to the web and Internet. Everything else at the application level is going to be competitive. Anyway you look at it, the unique role for a mobile service provider is access. On top of that service providers obviously sell voice apps, text messaging and other apps as well.

In that sense, the argument about "dumb pipe" is a bit misleading. A mobile service provider cannot fail to offer "access" or it no longer is a mobile service provider. But up to this point, that access always has come bundled directly with applications. The new challenges exists in that applications and access increasingly are loosely coupled in the data world. As voice and other applications become apps delivered over a data connection, the terrain upon which apps and access are loosely associated will continue to grow.

Data Networks Force Wireless to Find New Income - NYTimes.com