Verizon Wireless to Start Charging for Messaging Fees

Effective November 1, 2008, Verizon Wireless is assessing a transaction fee of $0.03 for every commercial text message (terminated on a moble handset). The new rules do not apply to people sending text messages to each other, but rather to content firms that today pay fees to send or receive commercial text messages of one sort or another. The new fees also do not apply to text message applications, even if commercially-based, if they are free to the end user or are sent or received  by non-profit entities.

Interactive voting and text search or text alert applications most likely are covered by the new fees. 

Current commercial text messaging fees are said to cost the commercial sender anywhere from a fraction of a penny to a few cents, so the plan will have huge impact on use of such commercial text messaging apps. Predictably, commercial users will cry "foul." Perhaps Verizon should have, or still can, scale the increases in a more-gradual way, allowing their commercial customers time to adjust. 

In principle, though, we ought to expect similar sorts of moves on a rather broad range of fronts as broadband and mobile providers try to create new revenue models that involve some sort of revenue sharing between content providers and the carriers themselves. 

Commercial customers have sound financial reasons for objecting to the practice: free or cheap distribution is a better cost model for content providers than having to share revenue or pay fees for any number of conceivable services an ISP or access provider might provide. 

What is not contestable is that if the global service provider industry is in the midst of a fundamental business model evolution--where voice revenues in fact continue to decline as the industry revenue mainstay--then other revenue sources must be developed to replace virtually all of the lost voice revenue and margin. The actual cost of creating and operating a text message infrastructure is not the issue: lots of products are priced at retail in a way that is not strictly related to the cost of providing them. Sales and loss leaders are widespread retail practices, and products run a gamut: some are low-margin or negative margin, others are modest margin products and some are high-margin products. Production cost is only part of the retail price equation. 

The Verizon move is indicative of the seriousness of the revenue transformation. Voice is going away as the foundational revenue driver and must be replaced. Service providers have no choice in the matter.

Content providers won't like the change. But these and similar moves in other parts of the business are inevitable. If the future of communications network revenues cannot be based on voice or simple broadband, it must be based on something else. And if more content begins to be delivered using broadband networks of all sorts, some revenue-sharing model, where service providers are part of the revenue chain, must be created.

That doesn't mean content providers have to like the change. But in the absence of meaningful ways to sustain the networks on voice or broadband access revenues, service providers do not have a choice. So look for more "channel conflict" in the years to come. It is inevitable. 

There is no Free Lunch

Mobile providers in the Phillippines say they will have to raise text messaging prices if the government seizes half of text messaging revenues to fund  new health and education initiatives in the country. Under the proposed plan, the government will claim13.5 centavos of the 27 centavos currently charged. 

At the end of the day, consumers always bear the burden of all taxes, fees and charges. Businesses simply collect those fees and forward them to government agencies. What else would any manager do, given the need to make a profit margin of "X," on a cost structure of Y, when it is clear a cost structure now is "Y+N?" 

Rogers Drops 256 kbps Broadband Tier

Rogers Communications seems to be dropping support for a low-speed wireless broadband service, Broadband Reports says. Apparently Rogers has discontinued its "Portable Internet Basic" tier. That plan, costing $24.95 a month, supplied 256kbps downstream and 64 kbps upstream. The "Rogers Portable Internet High Speed" costs $49.95 a month and supplies 1.5 Mbps downstream and 256 kbps upstream. 

Both services have a 30 GByte monthly usage cap. Rogers apparently now wants to offer just a single tier of service, the  1.5Mbps version, though they've lowered the price to $44.95. 

At least some users will complain about the inability to buy the lower-speed tier. Personally, I think it is odd to offer a 256 kbps "broadband" tier in the first place, though Rogers might have considered a tier offering more bandwidth than 256 kbps and less than 1.5 Mbps. 

Verizon Launches Tech Support Services

Need more evidence that the historic demarcation between wide area networks and premises networks is gone? Verizon Communications has launched an "Expert Care" service plans that offer 24 by 7, in-depth technical support for computer software and hardware problems, as well as repair or replacement coverage for computers, TVs and telephone equipment.

Expert Care offers three types of service plans providing consumers a wide range of choices in coverage and support for low monthly or one-time fees that can be added to consumers' Verizon bills. The plans include device repair and replacement of multiple computers, TVs and telephones regardless of age, size or place of purchase. The plans range from $4.99 to $19.99 a month, depending on the equipment covered, and may also include repair or replacement of original equipment remote controls, keyboards, mice, monitors and backup batteries for Verizon's FiOS service.

A premium technical support plan, priced at $14.99 a month, includes telephone and online support for issues such as virus and spyware detection and removal, virtual private network problems, help with firewalls, problems with computer operating systems, gaming connectivity problems, and software and hardware help. Telephone and online technical support is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Premium on-site support also is available, with the work provided in partnership with Circuit City's Firedog tech support operation. This plan includes on-site support ranging from operating system installations to full PC and home network setups, billed on a per-use basis. There are several offerings, tailored to specific needs and priced from $99.99 to $249.99.

AT&T also offers similar support for premises networks, equipment and software. The point is that the neat distinction between what "network service providers" do, and what value-added resellers, system integrators, interconnects or audio-video specialists do, is eroding.

With the advent of Internet Protocol services, it is necessary to support end user devices and applications to ensure proper functioning of applications and services.

Xohm: One Has to Start Somewhere

You have to start somewhere: Sprint's "Xohm"  business recently unveiled a number of co-marketing agreements with Lenovo and Acer that will have each of the PC vendors introducing a number of notebooks for enterprise and small business buyers. The ultimate goal, of course, is to have WiMAX capability embedded in new classes of devices such as cameras or MP-3 players. For the moment, though, Xohm seems to be positioning as a "metro-wide Wi-Fi" experience.

That means making it marginally easier for mobile PC users to buy what others might consider a "mobile broadband access" experience using dongles or PC cards. Xohm promises more bandwidth of course, and that is the key distinction for the moment, aside from the ability to buy service at lower prices and without contracts. Users who are mobile in many cities across the United States will have to make judgments about where they actually need wireless broadband access and whether Xohm will have coverage in those locations. 

Where Xohm is today is not where it would like to be in the future, of course, but for the moment it will have to rely on lower pricing and higher bandwidth as the differentiator with existing 3G mobile broadband offered by Sprint, Verizon and AT&T. In due course, more unusual options should be available, and the issues with nationwide roaming should clear up. 

Still, it must be said: as a user of mobile broadband service who is mobile beyond a single metro area, coverage trumps bandwidth or price. Lower prices are nice and higher speeds ultimately will be important. But coverage is king if one has to roam on a continental basis.

Not every use case has that requirement, though. Users who will not require roaming outside their home city will find $45 per month for a Xohm service, without a contract, and featuring 2 Mbps to 4 Mbps throughput, more attractive than $65 a month for 1 Mbps or less and a two-year contract. The issue is what percentage of the mobile PC access market is in the "national roaming" compared to the "metro roaming" category. 

I have used "metro" roaming broadband access, and it is useful as an alternative to Wi-Fi hot spots. It does not fare well when the use case is national roaming, though. 

Lenovo plans to offer five ThinkPad laptops with WiMax, while Acer will roll out two Aspire notebooks for small businesses that have the WiMax technology.

The Lenovo ThinkPad notebooks that offer Intel’s Centrino 2 platform with the optional WiMax technology include the new ThinkPad X301 as well as the ThinkPad W500, W700, SL400 and X200. A consumer notebook, the Lenovo IdeaPad Y530 laptop, is expected to follow later in 2008.

In addition to Lenovo, Acer is also preparing to roll out two notebooks – the Aspire 4930-6862 and the Aspire 6930-6771 – that offer the updated Intel Centrino 2 platform and the WiMax feature. While the Acer Aspire series is geared more toward consumers, these notebooks have found a place within the small business market.

The point is that one cannot yet assess how well WiMAX will fare in its intended markets. The footprint remains limited and device support is limited as well. But one has to start somewhere. 

Broadband: Rubber Meets Road

Comcast says it will have 20 percent of its markets upgraded with faster DOCSIS 3.0 50 Mbps speeds by the end of the year, and all customers will be upgraded by the end of 2010. Which will provide an interesting test of end user demand. Other service providers who provide speeds that fast have been reluctant in the extreme to say anything in public about take rates for services offering that sort of speed.

I think the clear implication is that really-fast broadband remains a bit of a niche. In Minneapolis/St. Paul users can buy a 50 Mbps downstream/5 Mbps upstream connection for $150 per month. What isn't so clear is how many customers are willing to do so.

What would seem obvious is that a good percentage of the potential market at this point is buyers who have some business justification for such bandwidth, either to support a home-based business or work-at-home operations with a fairly high video conferencing requirement. 

Verizon's 20 Mbps FiOS offering costs $52.99 a month when bundled with a Verizon phone service and $57.99 a month without, so that roughly sets expectations for market pricing. 

Verizon's 50 Mbps downstream, 20 Mbps upstream service costs $139.95 a month with phone service and $144.95 a month without a bundled phone line. 

That is worth keeping in mind as nominal speeds keep climbing. So far, it appears uptake for the highest-end offerings is relatively modest, whatever it may be worth as a marketing platform. 

What observers always seem to miss about the mass market is its price sensitivity. Consumers can become accustomed to services and features that once seemed to be luxuries--broadband access, cable TV, multiple PCs in a home and mobile service being prime examples. But it takes time for the value to be understood and the pricing to become acceptable for the value received. 

By some estimates it has taken the better part of a decade for the Internet access habit to be created and then to be recast as a "broadband" Internet access "need." It might take a similar amount of time before 50 Mbps access tiers are seen as the "typical" way to satisfy the access need.

People don't generally buy "technology'; they buy value. It will take some time to convince most people that 50 Mbps for such prices are valuable enough to pay for them. 

Consumers Say They Are Reducing Spending

The latest ChangeWave consumer survey, conducted in late September 2008, shows another major leg downward for U.S. consumer spending. At the same time, confidence in the economy has dropped to exceptionally low levels and looks to stay that way for three months, ChangeWave says. 

Of course, consumer spending has been trending lower for about 15 months. More than half of  4,067 respondents  (52 percent) now say they'll spend less money over the next 90 days, for example. About 18 percent say they'll spend more. 

More respondents say they are spending less because they are paying down debt (29 percent) or saving more (26 percent). Generally higher prices and higher energy costs get top blame for reduced spending.