The new generation telecommunication

As I pondered earlier on the possible outcome of the future telecommunication industry, many of them had taken form. The landscape is aggressively changing with cross industry roles fusing and some evolving to its natural path of progress.

Just a little over two years, the internet usage pattern has tremendously evolved. Three years back, the internet was a source for information search with the dominance of Yahoo!, Google and MSN as the preferred search engine. Commerce has also broken down physical boundaries and led to the fame of ebay and amazon. But at the turn of 2007, massive development had taken place and people had turned to generating their own contents and expanding their social networking circle through new channels provided by Facebook, Myspace, YouTube and Blogger. The way people communicate, share experiences, vocalize their thoughts over the internet space has grown exponentially... creating the community termed as the "digital natives".

With the rapid development of multi-access devices, high bandwidth wireless access and cross-platform content delivery applications; many internet players, mobile service operators, content aggregators and other digital media player had come to a cross-road on strategizing their onward business direction. As a direct result, we have seen search engine provider; Google, realizing their strategies to be a wireless mobile service provider through their "Android" project and operators such as TM Net had announce their business plan to move away from being the broadband access service provider to a content aggregator powerhouse. In neighboring countries, SK Telecomms from Korea created Melon to take on the mobile music aggregator role and China Telecomm partners with several music labels to introduce I-Music. The most interesting is on how Apple, created iPhone for its move from the vendor space to the content service distribution channel.

Lets have a recap on what moves or drives these changes.

a) Increasing capacity and capabilities : cross-functional mobile devices, multiple wireless technology (Wimax, Wi-fi, 3G, HSDPA), powerful mobile processor for handheld devices and miniaturization of electronic components
b) Changing consumption pattern : active internet presence, immediate access to information, anytime-anywhere content request for music and video files
c) Digital culture : Rise of digital community and the exponentially spawning "digital natives" that populates social networking channels, uploading and sharing of user generated contents
d) Complex and sophisticated software development : cross device delivery solution, development of new and efficient applications and softwares
e) Monetization/new business models : cross platform media distribution channel, mobile advertising, strategic alliances and new generation partnerships

At this competitive juncture, internet powerhouses, mobile and fixed line service operators, content owners and distributors are faced with new challenges and decisions. Things are just starting to heat up...