Wireless Carriers To Enterprise Customers: "We Never Promised You A Rose Garden"

Editor's note: LB3 partner Kevin DiLallo contributed greatly to this column.

For all the convenience that wireless services have brought to enterprises, wireless carriers have shown disappointingly little interest in innovative products, services, or pricing models. Instead, the industry has

focused on value-added services for consumers-e.g., games, ringtones, and video streaming-that have no practical application in the business environment. Enterprise customers, looking for advanced products and services that could cut the skyrocketing cost of wireless service, have been largely ignored.

Paleolithic Pricing

Wireless pricing models have changed little since the introduction of cellular. Buckets o' minutes plans, with their attendant overage charges and hard-to-meet MOU sweet spots, remain the wireless carriers' true cash cows. The promise of flatrated voice plans has not been realized, as carriers have recognized that the pricing model is too transparent to maximize profits. Even pooled plans, which really do offer the greatest savings for enterprises, are difficult to optimize for a population with divergent usage patterns.