What’s the point?
A story out of the U.K. reports that T-Mobile is giving a mobile VoIP start-up with a great client upgrade a hard time. This kind of report is beyond frustrating to me. If large carriers are deploying 3G and IMS with the goal of opening up their networks and allowing them to interconnect across all boundaries so people can use them the way they want to use them, then what’s the point of blocking another carrier because they’ve created a cheaper way to use the public network? Honestly, it just blows my mind.
On the one hand, the consolidation in the telecom arena almost had to happen to get these super powered next-generation networks built. But if the end result is a plethora of next-generation Carterphone decisions and attorneys getting rich fighting off innovation while simultaneously putting the brakes on creativity and new services, then why bother to build them at all?
I’m not sure what regulatory body ought to be coming to the rescue of Truphone, but interconnection should be a must for all comers to public networks. How can a service provider claim it has created a policy not to connect to another carrier? If the goal of IMS is to eliminate silos, how does keeping people out in the cold because they can’t interconnect make any sense?
Bullying companies with a better idea seems so old school. I suppose it’s better than buying them and shutting them down. Either action smacks of bad faith in the evolution of the public network. It seems only Truphone is staying true to the vision the carriers that are giving them a hard time act so passionate about. Luckily, just as water finds low ground, cheap, creative applications that people like will probably gain the momentum they need to win out in the long run. - Annie