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Telco termination fees have been, and are becoming much more so, a hindrance to innovation. The technical part of telcos should have been turned into dumb utili
by Lost_BiomedE 13y ago
Telco termination fees have been, and are becoming much more so, a hindrance to innovation. The technical part of telcos should have been turned into dumb utilities by now, with the big providers as mere resellers. Thanks, Michael Powell.
- scholia 13y agoThey might be a hindrance in the USA but not in most of the world, where pre-pay and rolling one-month contracts are common. It means there's a big market for good cheap phones among people who won't or can't pay $700 or $900 for an iPhone 5, and still want this year's model. The South Korean government banned contracts for being anti-competitive, which gave a big boost to Samsung and LG. Now Chinese firms like Lenovo, Huawei and ZTE are benefiting as well. This is why Apple has no real choice about doing a cheap iPhone. Contracts mean it can dominate the US market while making huge margins, but the rest of the world is going Android.