IM and Text Services Costing Carriers Nearly $14B in Operator Sales

By Karla Robinson
February 23, 2012

IP-based instant messaging and text services such as iMessage, Facebook Chat, Skype and Google Voice cost mobile carriers $13.9 billion in potential SMS revenue last year.
GigaOM suggests “that the challenge for carriers is finding a way to continue getting the same total dollars from subscribers while transitioning them to new services. Otherwise they might lose valuable dollars to IP-based voice and messaging services without making up the loss of voice and testing plan revenue.”
Ovum, which analyzed the monetary effect of these services on carriers, said that “operators are in a position of strength because they control the entire messaging structure through their access to the user’s phone number and usage data. The established billing relationship is a great advantage, as is the fact that operators control to a great extent the services to which the user is exposed.”
Mobile operators will have to be cautious when attempting to secure their revenue because consumers now have a variety of options that bypass traditional plans.
“By using new services they can piece together their own IP-based communications using a device, some handy apps, and their mobile data plan,” notes the post, detailing options like using a $30/month data-only SIM card.

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