The first direct threat to the telephony business model has emerged in England.
There The Cloud, a hotspot network, has begun offering a $20/month (11.99 pounds in real money) all-you-can-eat calling plan that could compete directly against cellular.
Of course, I hear you say, hotspots are stationery, while cellular is mobile. But the company is serious. It has agreements with most of the country’s major mobile operators, who use it to extend their own networks. The company is offering customers of these companies discounted access to its plan. In other words, it’s complementary.
Can this happen here? Boingo would like to think it can. The other huge network in the U.S., meanwhile, is T-Mobile, owned by the third-largest cellular carrier.
Can this push people to start paying for something they’re accustomed
to getting free? Another good question which has yet to be answered.
But we’ll keep asking.
