With the telco crisis behind, there is a need to look ahead for a rapidly commoditizing telecom market, where the sole aim is to make services faster and cheaper. The focus could be shifted over to nextgen which includes shared resources and open network business models.
This
report serves as a sequel to the articles I wrote about
the telco crisis, the event that brought the boom of
the late 1990s to an abrupt halt. With the crisis more
or less behind us, it is now time to look ahead. We
can persevere with a rapidly commoditizing market, which
is based on the old telco assets and services and where
the sole aim is to make these faster, cheaper and dumber.
Or, we can embrace the next generation (nextgen) trend
towards intelligent networks, which is grid-shaped (like
the Internet) and which includes shared resources and
open network business models.
To
a large degree, the telco crisis occurred because too
much attention was being paid to the making of money
on the stock marketat a time when the focus should have
been on building up new telco businesses.The
established telcos refused to embrace this new trend.
They persisted in clinging to the traditional mindset
and business culture. As a result, they were beaten
to the post by the new players, who could see the opportunities
that existed in the market. These Internet Service Providers
(ISPs) successfully captured a large portion of the
market shareand they held on to it.
It
was interesting to observe how the old telcos quickly
regained their power base once the crisis occurred.
And, the telcos and celcos that began operations in
the 1980s and early 1990s also weathered the storm.
However, very few, if any, of the opportunistic-style
companies that started up in the late 1990s have been
able to become established as major competitors in the
market.
|
