Radical Decentralization in Telecom

What do 5G Wireless, Blockchain and IoT have in common? You might be surprised…

Anyone involved in the Telecommunications industry over the last couple of decades has seen massive shifts in the industry. From the fiber boom and bust of the 90’s to ubiquitous Internet of the 2000’s to the ridiculously powerful smartphones of today, Telecom has been in a constant state of flux.

That trend continues with the recent introduction of 5G wireless. Though the business case is still up for debate — how much will consumers care about the supposed benefits of increased bandwidth and reduced latency? — carriers and phone manufacturers are betting heavily on broad scale adoption.

What has not changed significantly in the last few decades is the competitive landscape for carriers. While consumer brands have come and gone (goodbye Jump, hello Mint Mobile), the infrastructure players have largely remained consistent, mergers and acquisitions aside.

This has inevitably contributed to stagnation or increases in pricing for service plans. As an example, one major US carrier has held pricing for single line plans at around $60/month for over 10 years (although you can negotiate better rates if you threaten to leave their service). Long-term contracts and/or high switching costs (through equipment financing) continues to be the norm, further adding to consumer frustration.

Prepaid services are certainly an option, but usually come with limited options and services. New entrants, such as the aforementioned Mint, are attempting to offer better, more competitive service pricing by purchasing bulk access to carrier networks and rebranding. This, unfortunately for the consumer, requires users to purchase multiple months of service in advance, and is, therefore, not an ideal solution for many.

There are, however, some truly revolutionary changes on the horizon, driven by the convergence of several open source technologies. These technologies are interesting each on their own; but, together, could turn Telecom on its ear, relegating carriers to pure infrastructure (think public water service as an analogy), and placing the power of choice into the hands of the individual consumer.

Helium

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