I’m listening to Brough Turner give an excellent presentation on why we need wireless spectrum deregulation and a re-framed debate on right-of-way access for optical fibre to the premises. You’re probably familiar with a lot of the arguments already. He neatly frames the access network debate as “layer zero competition”. What is this? Before you lay down a physical network, you need access to rights of way. Competition policy needs to focus on enabling multiple access to those rights of way. Or, in other words, fibre isn’t a natural monopoly when you make it easy for newcomers to lay fiber without having to ask incumbents. Anyway, it prompts me to note something else small but important.
Many assume that PSTN interconnect is vital. But for youth, it won’t be such a big deal. The IM generation is seceeding from the PSTN. Yes, cell phones are an extension of the distribution model of the PSTN, and are essential teen social props. But imagine if TV spectrum was opened and there was a panoply of excellent cheap IP-friendly wireless networks. They’d all be calling each other using Skype and Yahoo! IM. Our family already spends a lot more talk time on Skype than the PSTN. All they need to be able to access the PSTN is a gateway somewhere on the Internet.
The PSTN is the “network for strangers”. It’s the network you use to call people who aren’t on your buddy list. Which means we’re probably lacking in terms of buddy list management. It needs to be easier to get on (and off) someone’s buddy list, even if only temporarily or as a second-class member with limited view of the corresponent’s presence. Why can’t my bank’s call center get itself onto my buddy list? Why can’t they know I’m a Skyper and when I log in to their website there’s a “Skype Us!” logo? I’m already Internet banking, so use the Internet to finish the job when I need personal help!
Of course, secession tends to spark conflict. But this one is being done one person at a time. PSTN slaves slip through the underground packet networks heading north to IP land. There’s no simple target for incumbents to attack. The PSTN dies a death through a billion service cuts. It doesn’t go away. It just becomes increasingly irrelevant.
We’ve only just begun this journey. When Michael Powell was preaching a VoIP revolution that sweeps away the past, I suspect that most of the audience didn’t understand “and that means you!”. There’s still a world of issues and opportunity beyond replicating an audio stream on IP and making it hop over gateways and network boundaries.
UPDATE: Joe Rinde is doing a great job of listing dozens of features we don’t have today and can look forward to. It’s been obvious for a long time that we need to move from selling VoIP on price to features. His is the same message as mine, just more eloquently put.
Posted by Martin Geddes at 03:47 PMTrackBack URL for this entry:
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