The Skype's the limit

This morning, the mobile operator 3 announced that it has launched a new handset that will allow users to make free calls over the Internet via Skype. This is the first time an operator has offered a mass market phone specifically enabled to make VoIP calls from a mobile handset.

In my blog last week, I mused on Google doing something just like this and I still think they will. If they are smart, they will look at wrapping a Google phone/ browser client into handset operating systems rather than specific phones, but the message is clear: the forces that have caused “PSTN revenues to drop like a stone” (to quote the TM Forum Benchmarking report due out next week) are now being unleashed on the previously protected mobile market.

Unlike fixed line operators, who have had other lines of business to dilute the impact, mobile operators make the vast majority of their income from mobile calls and texts. Although the operator will still make a monthly rental fee from a Skype or Google enabled service, free calling and mobile instant messaging will make a big dent in profits if it catches on. And as I said in last week’s blog, Google has a lot of reasons to want to monetize the nearly 3billion mobile users out there through advertising.

What does this all mean for the operations world that TM Forum lives in? Potentially massive upheaval that could fundamentally reshape the market and the way that services are created, delivered and paid for.  A bit of overkill – no I don’t think so. I’ve been in telecoms for nearly 40 years and the potential of companies like Skype but most definitely Google is to rewrite the rules of how the telecom industry works. I wasn’t one of these saying it in the 1990’s when the ‘Silver Surfer” hyped the mobile internet and the world went bananas in a flurry of unrealistic expectation. But a few years on, the technologies and particularly the market conditions are right.

Those of you off to Dallas for the Management World conference next week might like to bring this up as a debating point. Certainly we’ll be taking a strong “Will advertising kill or cure telecom” theme for the next big TM Forum conference in Nice next May because advertising represents as many opportunities for telecom as it does threats. But you have to seize opportunities; something my chosen profession isn’t good at. But it’s a golden opportunity to offset all of those declining call revenues.

I mentioned the Forum’s benchmarking report which is being unveiled at the Dallas Management World conference. Check it out – it’s free to members and it contains some very interesting observations. It’s also a very interesting program to get engaged with –m it’s a free service to service providers who can benchmark their data against other major players around the world in a secure online system. Variuos key operating metrics are defines across a range of services such as broadband, mobile and so on. For more details click here

If you are interested in business benchmarking, why not also check out the Forum’s first business benchmarking summit scheduled for London on November 27^th at the London Marriott Hotel Marble Arch. More details here

I look forward to catching up with many of you at management world next week in Dallas. It shaping up to be a great week, so have a safe journey and see you there.