ps -
Ray,
One of the problems with the ensuing value structures on the 'net which are engendered
by broadband is not that they will not cause wealth creation for the participants. Surely
wealth will be created. Rather, the very nature of many emerging value structures is to
shift the reward to those layers of usage that are removed from the physical transport
medium, altogether. This has to be a less-than-appealing prospect right now in an era of runaway (although still very vaporous to a large extent) expectations regarding the eventual fruits of e-commerce and enhanced entertainment services delivery.
E-com, in many ways, doesn't make sense to the facilities based provider unless they are
able to exact some claim to the overall reward component in the structure. In other
words, unless they partake in the actual content side of the business, then there is no
really lucrative incentives in it for them at this time to sell bandwidth purely on a cost plus
basis, when everyone else's margins and ROIs who ride atop the DSL or fiber, or what
have you, can far exceed their own. The problem they face then becomes one of core competence, and not having any in content. Ouch. I just recalled some of the failed JVs between RBOCs and content providers in this space which wound up in ashes earlier this decade.
Thinking out loud for a moment, I can see a BEL or SBC partnering with a DoubleClick
and others in this context. Now, there's an idea. A Last Mile provider enhancing the service capabilities of their most-favored advertisers' and other related organizations' in their ability to do certain things on the last mile component of the'net that others can't. Why stop with the ad companies, how about the principals, the makers of goods and services, themselves? A kind of context-based feature privilege, based on who you are and your relationship with the xLEC/SP. Hmm...
"Why not?", I argue with myself. A principal advertizer could simply claim to be buying a layered service from the xLEC in this fashion that is dormant most of the time, and invoked only when an end user happens across their content. Something like a quick spurt of bandwidth on demand.
Somebody, Quick! Get me a patent lawyer!
Regards, Frank Coluccio |
