Last week’s TelecomNext event in Las Vegas was painful at times.
Not because the event was poorly run or because of the beating I took at the tables. No, the painful part was watching wireline executives use a bevy of acronyms and catch phrases in an attempt to justify the existence of their multibillion-dollar companies, while wireless executives played quiet submissives.
One after another, well-known execs from some of the biggest names in the telecommunications industry spent their 30 minutes on stage touting the world-changing benefits of “converged” networks, of Wi-Fi, WiMAX and IMS extensions, and explaining how one day these technologies would guarantee that consumers would never be out of reach. These presentations were followed by executives from wireless companies, some owned by much larger wireline parents, who-instead of preaching about the advances they plan on rolling out-seemed shackled to talking about nothing more than their current operations.
Painful.
As the mobile industry continues its rapid growth, it appears wireline companies are having a hard time giving their wireless offspring the freedom they need to prosper in a world that is increasingly mobile. That reluctance is partly understandable as wireless subsidiaries are becoming a destination for consumers migrating away from wired services.
However, that inability to let go is (at least on the surface) stagnating a wireless industry that some 20 years after being born is ready to overshadow its aging wired parents and take the lead in moving telecommunications into the future.
The most obvious cases are Cingular Wireless L.L.C. and Verizon Wireless, which despite occupying the No. 1 and No. 2 positions in the wireless industry, appear to be under the thumbs of their wireline-based parent companies AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. Cingular and Verizon Wireless are not provided the freedom to take the lead in truly revolutionizing telecommunication offerings.
Sure, Cingular and Verizon Wireless are moving ahead with advanced network offerings, but it seems that until their overbearing parents wake up and realize that what consumers want in their communications is mobility, Cingular and Verizon Wireless will be forced to remain seen and not heard.
Bright spots for the future of wireless could come from Sprint Nextel Corp., which is unburdened by wires and has the spectrum capacity to truly push mobile communications; Alltel Corp., which has wisely spun off its wireline operations and enjoys a broad rural wireless footprint to expand the reach of advanced wireless services; and Craig McCaw’s Clearwire Corp.
But until the big boys controlling the purse strings loosen their grip, wireless carriers will be forced to continue operating on a short leash.
