Speaker: Wireless carriers need to embrace IP

(Telephony) To take advantage of the mobile Internet, wireless carriers need to embrace IP, suggests Michael Buhrmann, vice president and general manager of Software.com, who spoke at the IN and Carrier IP World Forum presented by the International Engineering Consortium in Miami.

“The world is being driven by data, but in the wireless industry, this has all changed only in the last year or so,” he said.

More importantly, wireless carriers need to embrace IP if they want to keep the wolves at bay. He noted the recent partnership between Nokia and AOL--which calls for Nokia to program its handsets to provide the user with access to the ISP--as evidence.

“There is a new breed of competitor trying to invade the wireless space,” he said. “They are trying to disintermediate wireless carriers from their customers. If this happens, wireless carriers will simply become pipes, and this will leave a lot of shareholder value on the table.”

Specifically, Buhrmann stressed that wireless carriers must do whatever is necessary to enable IP services.

“They need to build a directory of information as to who their customers are, and what they want,” he explained. “This is very important. The way the Internet combats churn is through ‘stickiness,’ and [this information] is where stickiness resides. Once customers have provided this info, he or she is less likely to leave [the service provider], because they don’t want to go through the process again.”

In addition, Buhrmann said that portals for wireless carriers are important—“not just a home page, but access to applications that only a wireless provider can offer”—as are the development of strategies that embrace personal computers and televisions, and the creation of voice gateways.

“Voice will become absolutely critical for a wireless carrier’s survival,” he concluded.