Operators Not Dumb Pipes
Tom Hume has some interesting observations on how network operators are at breaking point and how recent events feel like the start of a shift to operators as pipes.
Speaking to operators, I get the feeling that some of them realise that it’s getting increasingly difficult to be part of every service offering (music, maps, apps etc). In 2007, I wrote how five years earlier, I had been to an Ovum presentation where they predicted today’s events.
However, with bandwidth becoming sparse, there will be opportunities for networks to differentiate themselves through providing different size pipes for different types of data. Operators are already starting to understand the types of (application) data traffic going though their networks. For example, email doesn’t need the same priority as video. In the future, some operators see themselves as offering prioritised data services to end users or even in partnership with companies such as Google and Apple who will come to depend on more reliable connections for particular types of data.
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