In response to a comment about VOIP being a US$450-billion "black hole" for global carriers due to increase competition, it is important to remember there cannot be a completely "free ride" for the technology.
As VOIP becomes more widespread, competition will naturally cause prices to fall. That's great for residential and business consumers, who will see lower telecom costs. And it's great for players such as Vonage, which can offer inexpensive, feature-rich services by piggybacking on high-speed Internet networks with minimal infrastructure costs. It'ss not so great for carriers that have to deal with a new landscape that will force them to compete on price. This is why you see many carriers such as Bell, Telus and AT&T slashing operating costs by eliminating employees and getting out of non-core businesses.
The problem, however, is how deep do carriers have to cut to stay viable? If it gets to the point where investment in maintaining and upgrading core networks starts to be impacted, that would be huge trouble.
That said, I do not expect many consumers to weep tears for carriers that made tremendous profits for decades as they enjoyed little competitive pressure. Many people will forcefully argue they have had their day in the sun, and now it's time for the new, flexible and fast-moving players to dominate the playing field even if they operate few of their own facilities.
This facilities vs. non-facilities battle is something regulators around the world are grappling with. In Canada, the CRTC has been trying to enjoy the best of both worlds by encouraging facilities-based carriers AND competition. It is a tough balancing act that will get harder to carry off as competitors such as Vonage win more market share.

With the wireless carriers' emphasis - some would say obsession - with ARPU, the growth of the wireless data market is proving to be a huge boost to the industry. According to the Yankee Group, there were nearly 47 million wireless data users in the U.S. by mid-2004, compared with 29 million a year earlier. The consulting firm expects wireless data sales will surpass US$4-billion in 2004.
Most of the revenue has come from applications such as ring tones, games, screen savers, e-mail and photos. In 2005, video could be the next "hot" app in the consumer market based on the marketing activities of carriers in the key fourth-quarter sales season. New devices should also be an important theme as suppliers such as Research in Motion and Palm drive deeper in the pro-sumer sectors, while Asian rivals such as Samsung, LG and Kyocera come out with new technology.