Killer quotes:

[Because of network capacity being sucked up by iPhones] The result is dropped calls, spotty service, delayed text and voice messages and glacial download speeds as AT&T’s cellular network strains to meet the demand. Another result is outraged customers.

Just wait till all operators offer iPhones. And a full netbook line. And more dongles. And enterprise services in the cloud.

AT&T says that the majority of the nearly $18 billion it will spend this year on its networks will be diverted into upgrades and expansions to meet the surging demands on the 3G network. The company intends to erect an additional 2,100 cell towers to fill out patchy coverage, upgrade existing cell sites by adding fiber optic connectivity to deliver data faster and add other technology to provide stronger cell signals.

Wonder what the ROI will be on that 18 billion…

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/technology/companies/03att.html

Not to beat this drum too loudly, but cloud computing is among the one or two key truly significant changes that affect the telecom industry, dramatically expanding a business’ reliance on the network and dramatically increasing data volume — particularly data volume through cell sites as roaming employees access documents and other business content heretofore maintained locally.

The other significant change, as I’ve mentioned ad nauseam, is telecom’s move completely away from business models based on services (such as voice), toward models based on connecting developers of content/services and consumers of this content.