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I've always been of the theory that selling telecommunications services is not all that different than selling food: Strip out all the accoutrements and you're down to accomplishing similar goals. Food is sustenance whether is comes from a greasy spoon or a high-end bistro, and both ends of the market tend to survive quite well, because each serves a specific niche and customers can sample either at will.

Telecom is not a requirement for human survival, but falls into that class of services that defines civilized society. So why hasn't the industry been able to differentiate itself? Why have its heavyweights done little beyond mimicking each other's services in a race to commoditization? If Starbucks and Seattle's Best can convince American consumers to part with $1.50 minimum for a cup of coffee that still costs 75 cents at the local diner, why can't at least one carrier not follow the same model?

For one, differentiation would take guts, and the actions of carriers these days bring to mind that "Three Stooges" episode in which an Army sergeant asks for volunteers and Moe and Larry step backwards, leaving Curly the unenviable task at hand. Secondly, it would require the traditional access and metro vendors to step out of the comfort zone in which new innovative services are typically handled through "partner programs" and open APIs that appear on PowerPoint presentations and lead to a mysterious cloud of "application providers."

Over the last several weeks, more than one carrier executive has said in so many words that the biggest fear is turning billions in ATM/frame relay revenue into millions of Ethernet revenue because the newer technology just doesn't allow for that much differentiation and is currently a market that is contested almost solely on price. The same can be said for residential DSL providers. Offer tiered services and most users will migrate to the cheapest one because speed alone is enough of a differentiator.

Stepping out of the mold is painful and scary. But ultimately, it will be necessary.

E-mail me at vvittore@primediabusiness.com