Are carriers trying to wrest back control with apps, OneVoice initiatives?
Val Christopherson Managing director Global Results Communications Irvine, CA There sure seems to be a lot of industry love coming out of Mobile World Congress this year, with wireless carriers and device manufacturers working together in unprecedented ways. First, there was the Wholesale Applications Community (WAC) announcement Feb. 15. And now, the GSM Association has adopted the OneVoice initiative, an attempt by a group of carriers and vendors to handle voice and SMS services delivered over LTE networks. Verizon Wireless, KDDI and China Telecom are the primary drivers behind OneVoice, given their investments in LTE. We are not sure what the GSMAs adoption of OneVoice means for VoLGA, the other voice-over-LTE initiative. But we do know what the WAC and OneVoice announcements mean for the world of mobile marketing. Carriers and device manufacturers have officially drawn a line in the sand against content providers who are coming over the top of their networks to sell services. These
