No Country for Old Networks—Consumers Drive Network Change

Mobile network operators have built their businesses around the model of a subscriber who typically pays a monthly charge for a fixed set of pre-selected services. These services options are difficult to change and usually cannot be selected on an as needed basis. By contrast, with internet content and applications services, consumers can select from a wide variety of options and can dynamically change as often as desired. As a result, services expectations have been changed and significant pressure has been placed on incumbent service providers and mobile device manufacturers to make dynamic and customizable service options available. Implicit in this expectation is a need for operators and manufacturers to "open up" their offerings to permit a greater array of services, features, and applications. In this paper, we present the case for a "consumer-centric" network model that allows both traditional and new operators to survive and potentially flourish.