Smart mobile carrier CXOs

I have been accused of being a mobile carrier lover before, and I will be again.  I prefer to think of myself as "fair and balanced" compared to the vitriolic carrier haters.  I had an experience recently that re-invigorated my belief that carriers are rational market participants rather than innovation killing cavemen.

I had dinner with a telecom thought leader who has had a close relationship with the CEOs of several tier-1 US carriers for many years.  I will call him, Mr. Bigshot.  Bigshot has a business relationship with the CEOs of a number of Fortune 500 companies in a number of industries.  I would love to drop his name, but I didn't get permission, so you will have to trust me that he is highly credible.  Bigshot is also tired of the enmity toward tier-1 carriers, and the theory that they are just big dumb monopoly pipe operators run by big dumb people who are too stupid or cowardly to innovate.  Bigshot's key point is that the CEOs of the biggest US carriers among the smartest CEOs in the world, and that you can trust that the key executive-level decisions made by these big carriers were made by smart, experienced people who weighed the pros and cons prior to acting or not acting.  For example, Bigshot was in touch with these carriers years ago when it was believed that the carriers should acquire AOL if they wanted to survive in the new world.  The carrier execs told Bigshot that they had considered it, but that they didn't need to buy AOL because they would beat them.  AT&T & Verizon own the pipes AND customer.  Smart pipes and smart execs indeed!

A few days after our dinner, the Wall Street Journal announced that Yahoo's $300m/year revenue stream from AT&T was at risk since AT&T planned to end or at least renegotiate its Yahoo contract upon expiration.  Guess whose stock fell over 5% that day on the news???

So, the next time a carrier moves slower than you want it to, remember that it might have a reason, and a plan...