I wonder what the CCK regulations for MVNO are:

http://koolmobile.net/google-planning-to-launch-its-own-cellular-service-as-mvno-report/

./bernard
sent from my android device.

On Sep 12, 2011 3:42 PM, "gisho" <gichuhie@gmail.com> wrote:
> http://gigaom.com/mobile/mobile-operators-will-lose-voice-services-to-mobile-platforms/
> --
>
>
>
>
> On Mon, Sep 12, 2011 at 3:37 PM, gisho <gichuhie@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> a very interesting read
>>
>> Mobile operators will lose voice services to mobile platforms
>> By Ilja Laurs Sep. 11, 2011, 9:00am PT 17 Comments<http://gigaom.com/mobile/mobile-operators-will-lose-voice-services-to-mobile-platforms/#comments>
>>
>> -
>> - inShare289
>> -
>> -
>>
>> <http://gigaom2.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/3138567619_4bd60d455b_z.jpg>
>>
>> Imagine buying your SIM-free mobile phone from a local electronics store
>> and logging into your Google or Apple account as soon as you turn the phone
>> on for the first time. Then imagine having the phone ready to use for voice
>> calls with a phone number provided to you by Google Talk or Skype, and ready
>> to access email, YouTube or Facebook.
>>
>> That same phone automatically hooks to your home Wi-Fi or any of the
>> available 3G, WiMax or LTE networks without you even knowing (or caring)
>> which specific network its running on at the moment. No longer do you have
>> to belong to a specific carrier — your phone automatically picks the
>> strongest and cheapest network option at any given time. Your network
>> access, along with voice, app/in-app purchases and everything else are
>> provided to you by the mobile platform provider. The carriers are only there
>> to run network infrastructure and sell bandwidth to two to three mobile
>> platform providers.
>>
>> Let’s face it, the only two things that still connect carriers to consumers
>> are the voice number and billing for the network access. SIM card technology
>> is rudimentary — you can easily conduct user authentication using a simple
>> login, just like Apple does on iPods when you want to buy apps or songs from
>> the iTunes store.
>>
>> Looking into the future, even the phone number itself will disappear. Why
>> bother with all these numbers when you can just place a call directly to
>> anybody’s Facebook profile?
>>
>> This future is inevitable, and the changes are coming very soon. With
>> mobile platform providers running the show today, carriers simply have no
>> way of stopping the process. Not having any control over the platform
>> vendors — for instance, via a consortium that would centrally license
>> Android or other mobile platforms to equalize the balance of power between
>> the platform provider and the carriers/OEMs — they will eventually give up
>> on their ambitions to control the user. Just read the
>> Google/Motorola/Skyhook story<http://gigaom.com/2010/09/15/skyhook-sues-google-in-a-location-battle-royale/> to
>> see how it happens.
>>
>> It only takes one carrier to crack and start selling bandwidth to Google,
>> Microsoft or Apple; all other carriers will simply have no choice but to
>> follow. It’s like the prisoners’ dilemma from economic textbooks: If both
>> prisoners don’t talk, both win. But if separated and one is promised a way
>> out (or an easier sentence) and he talks first, then game theory suggests
>> the winning strategy for each prisoner is to talk. In other words, one of
>> them will crack. They are nowhere close to being united enough to stand
>> together, even in the short to mid-term. Look how effortlessly Apple, then
>> everyone else, took over their app distribution businesses — something that
>> only five years ago would have been totally unthinkable.
>>
>> Most likely, these first-to-crack carriers will be tier-two low-cost
>> carriers outside the U.S., possibly acquired by, but likely just partnering
>> with, the big platform players. Those carriers will have a high incentive to
>> enter such partnerships, as their networks are already optimized for low
>> costs (lean, efficient cost structure without heavy marketing, support,
>> premium services overheads, better network logistics, etc.). Short to
>> mid-term, the strategy will be against tier-one carriers, who have a high
>> marketing/operations cost burden. The UK actually looks like a very logical
>> place to start, especially when some UK carriers have already been
>> experimenting with Skype phones, which were successful to the degree that
>> price-sensitive younger audiences actually started to carry Skype phones as
>> their second device.
>>
>> It will probably be a while before most users fully switch to
>> non-carrier-provided voice/network services — maybe five to seven years —
>> but it’s only a matter of time, as the new model is so much more compelling
>> to the consumer. Signing up for multiple phone numbers as easily as opening
>> email accounts, getting the best and the cheapest network at any given time
>> in any spot (finally, no more service drops!), free and unlimited
>> voice/video on WiFi networks, cheap roaming even when overseas on a local
>> service, and so many more benefits are poised to take off.
>>
>> Once this happens, carriers fall into a very undesirable position. Network
>> access becomes an absolute commodity, much more so than in the case of
>> landline ISPs. The latter at least have relatively high switching costs,
>> while a mobile phone is already connected to every network available in its
>> physical location. This means carriers compete head to head over who sells
>> the cheapest bandwidth to Google, Apple or Microsoft, and only those most
>> economically fit with the strongest network logistics survive in the game.
>> This time, the brand, handset subsidies or any other marketing tricks are of
>> no help — it’s all about economics.
>>
>> What’s really interesting is what could happen with next-generation
>> networks. As carriers see their margins disappear almost entirely and the
>> profits shift to mobile platforms, operators won’t accumulate enough profits
>> to be able to invest in next-generation networks. Nor does the marginalized
>> economics of the network business promise them high ROI. Mobile platforms do
>> the opposite: By that time, they’ll have accumulated profits for all the
>> value-added services, so they’ll have both the money to invest and the
>> strong economic incentive to do so. This will also be very lucrative to
>> mobile platforms politically, as owning services end to end, from cloud to
>> network to devices, enables a whole new level of control and market power.
>>
>> *Ilja Laurs is CEO at GetJar <http://getjar.com/>, the world’s biggest
>> free app store.*
>>
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Aug 15, 2011 at 6:15 PM, gisho <gichuhie@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> i don't have hard evidence to back up this but GSM was designed for
>>> speech, not data (http://www.dcs.gla.ac.uk/~lewis/teaching/Tik-111.htm)
>>> maybe LTE is meant to solve this (with a dedicated data channel).
>>>
>>> if technology permits, i can't get my head around why and how AT&T would
>>> drop data transmission to a device. see? there is a bottleneck between a
>>> Gigabit fiber link and a mobile device, unless you are saying they can't
>>> purchase the bandwidth (??).
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> -erastus
>>> +254733725373
>>> tweet fast and free globally via USSD dial +44 203 355 8505 - by
>>> ussdtweet|messaging365
>>> Nairobi Kenya
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Mon, Aug 15, 2011 at 5:54 PM, Bernard Mwagiru <bmwagiru@gmail.com>wrote:
>>>
>>>> The technology exists. No limitations there. My question is why haven't
>>>> the giants ventured into telecoms? Is there a need for this?
>>>>
>>>> ./bernard
>>>> sent from my android device.
>>>>
>>>> On Aug 15, 2011 5:46 PM, "gisho" <gichuhie@gmail.com> wrote:
>>>> @bernard i bet i has to do with technology limitations, but i stand to be
>>>> corrected. obviously the telco technology will have to change somehow with
>>>> this rate of mobile innovations coming up. thats just the way am looking at
>>>> it and in most cases the mobile giants named might bring in what we NEED.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> -erastus
>>>> +254733725373
>>>> tweet fast and free globally via USSD dial +44 203 355 8505 - by
>>>> ussdtwe...
>>>>
>>>> On Mon, Aug 15, 2011 at 5:23 PM, Bernard Mwagiru <bmwagiru@gmail.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>> >
>>>> > A true cloud phone ...
>>>>
>>>>
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>>