This is a non-answer. Carriers are old, monolithic, latent, greedy machines with no ability to innovate or 'do' that much of anything, more likely they want to

This is a non-answer. Carriers are old, monolithic, latent, greedy machines with no ability to innovate or 'do' that much of anything, more likely they want to sit on their control of networks, extract rent, and block anyone from doing anything else. SMS/MMS could only be 'new' in that context. If their existential decline was in front of them, they would not be able to adapt quickly enough. In the 2000's Carriers tried to charge 10 cents per WAP page. They wanted to control all app distribution with their Kafquaesue App Stores right out of 1980's Soviet Technology. They used to dictate the terms of most of the gear on their networks. One of the most important things that Steve Jobs ever did was told them literally to 'F OFF' and that they would never, ever have any control over anything on the iPhone. Jobs agreed to that tiny little AT&T logo for a while, that's all they ever god. The App Store Duopoly isn't ideal, but it's a 'competent oligarchy' - meaning that suff moves and evolves, it generally works. It's be really nice to move to an all digital standard for calls, messaging etc.. and then force Network Neutrality (i.e. they can only bill for 'Quality of Service') and keep them moving bits. That, and separation of ownership of 'content' and bits as well. Having Verizon and A&T own major networks is just bad, there's no advantage. Finally, due to the limited access and the issues of 'public domain' with respect to airwaves, there needs to be regulation around pricing. If there were 100 carriers to chose from in every town, that wouldn't be a problem of course.