The future of connectivity options

Telco 2.0 has a nice list of types of connectivity options from a business and pricing model standpoint:

Name	Technical relationship of service and connectivity	Financial relationship of service and connectivity	Examples
vertically integrated interactive service	Integrated	Integrated	PSTN, mobile voice, SMS
vertically integrated broadcast service	Integrated	Integrated	FM radio, DVB-H
stand-alone best-effort connectivity	Separate	Separate	dial-up, today's broadband
QoS and billing enhanced connectivity	Application-aware; session/control plane integrated	Integrated	IMS
service-funded connectivity	Application-aware; no technical integration	Integrated	Skype Zones
user- or community-built free connectivity	Separate	Separate	Open Wi-Fi, basic muni service, mesh
local unrouted connectivity	Varies	No monetary exchange	Bluetooth, Family Radio Service
other connectivity	Application-agnostic	Tiered	Paris Metro pricing

They go on to give projections of the relative significance of each of these options from today through 2016--they foresee huge declines in the vertically integrated interactive service model and expansion of all of the others, with the greatest growth in the stand-alone best-effort connectivity model. That much is a pretty easy prediction based on the replacement of the PSTN with IP.

What's notable, though, is that there are other models besides stand-alone best-effort connectivity which they also see growing substantially, with QoS and billing enhanced connectivity the largest of those, through next-gen telco services like IMS.

Those who advocate network neutrality regulations should be careful not to endorse rules which would prohibit or impair the possibility of innovations using business models other than stand-alone best-effort connectivity.