Yesterday AT&T announced it would open its 3G wireless network to Internet voice applications on the iPhone. Does this mean we are finally seeing an end on operators blocking certain 3G data traffic? I sure hope so. 

My belief is that if you pay for an unlimited data subscription, and hundreds of dollars for a smartphone, you should be allowed to use whatever application you want. 

Until now, operators have hypocritically argued that VoIP eats up too much bandwidth, possibly overloading data networks, while at the same time allowing bandwidth intensive web browsing, file downloads and  video streaming. It is obvious that operators’ resistance is more about lost revenue for voice traffic. But I find it amazing that mobile bit-pipe providers (read service providers) think they are special. I am paying them for their service and the traffic I generate, so why can’t I decide what to use it for? Would our ADSL providers dare to do the same? 

The success of the iPhone in the US market has been tremendous, and if users finally have the freedom to use any application they want, it could only mean the phone’s popularity will continue to grow. Specifically, if the iPhone retains special VoIP privileges, it could mean they keep other platforms, like Android at bay. For instance, today I read about a new Gartner report which projected Android’s market share to overtake the iPhone OS in 2012. The report states that,  ”while the Google-backed Android mobile operating system currently runs on less than 2% of all smartphones, Gartner Inc. predicts it will surge to 14% of the global smartphone market in 2012 — ahead of the iPhone, as well as Windows Mobile and BlackBerry smartphones”. The report also claims that the market share of the once-dominant Symbian OS will fall to 39%. 

So now we will wait with baited breath see if AT&T and Apple will allow subscribers to use GIPS enabled mobile applications to operate over 3G, and if other operators and devices will follow suit.

Tags: Android, AT&T, iPhone, mobile VoIP

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