In the telecom arena most cell phone carriers have seen that voice based revenue have been stagnating (the market in the US is saturated, but it is exploding in Asia and thew Middle East), and are doing everything they can do increase their packet-based data revenue. So, if you were wondering what my point was going to be, this is where social networking comes in. For cell phone infrastructure providers, carriers and handset manufacturers – the challenge is to be able to make social networking and Web 2.0/3.0 applications available at all times to users!

We work on things such as Fixed-Mobile onvergence and Mobile-Web 2.0/3.0 convergence. The idea being that a user can be on a mobile network or a fixed network (ADSL, WiFi connection etc), and yet be able to seamlessly transition between them and continue to twitter or blog etc. Not to mention, the security platforms that have to be implemented underneath all these communication channels to make sure the data is still safe! And, lest I forget, cost efficient billing/charging schemes.

On another note, I’m going out on a limb here, I have yet to see organizations/institutions that have developed effective and scalable buiness models for using social networking for profit. If you know of any, let me know! Universities/educational institutions may lead the pack to new frontiers here. Hopefully mobile handset manufacturers and cell phone carriers will be able to: 1) continue to make the underlying technology cheap, reliable and scalable and 2) develop new apps and platforms that enable users to be wired ubiquitously.