It's all about the services stupid!

While many mobile operators look down their noses at the respective 3 operations (part of Hutchison Whampoa) and feel smug about how few subscribers 3 have got, they should remember that out of great arrogance often springs underperformance and failure. I am not sure that this will be at the hands of the various 3 operations - in fact I would say that the odds are stacked against 3. What this shoal of minnows has done and is worth praise is notice that revenue can come from not just the minutes and Megabytes you charge for but also the services you help partners sell. 3 UK recently published that a large percentage of its data traffic was Facebook. Not only does 3 promote Facebook but also Skype and Messenger. While other operator are laughing at how 3 is losing revenue, I am reasonable sure that 3 is making a tidy revenue stream from working with these partners. After all, all these companies such as Skype make money from having these customers so it is logical to assume that 3 is getting a chunk of that revenue. Long term it is the companies such as 3 that see monetisation being not just towards customers but also service companies that will be the winners. The rest will die under the onslaught of Google or its successors.