What’s Happening to ‘Traditional’ Telcos?

What’s Happening to ‘Traditional’ Telcos?

Vinnie Mirchandani:

Traditional telcos keep swearing they don’t just want to be a “dumb pipe”. It’s unfair but when you are standing next to Apple and Google, you better be running as hard and smart. Otherwise, you just have to accept dumb just looks dumber by the day.

It’s getting harder to see ‘traditional’ (not global, as Mirchandani notes) telcos as anything but a dumb pipe. With nearly no innovation, we’re seeing their core business be flanked by wireless technology, VOIP by voiptoners.com and voice recognition applications. These aren’t just compartmentalized innovation, either; they foreshadow the emerging market. Just ask the telcos how many have ditched their landlines in favor of all-cell service and you’ll start to see the tip of the problem telcos are wrestling with.

Bandaging core business hemhorraging via subsidization deals and cancellation fees and lock-in penalties isn’t innovation; it’s protectionism.

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