Game Over for T-Mobile?

Recently, the CEO of Deutsche Telekom, the parent company of T-Mobile declared that the creation of a new brand, focusing on businesses is “not ruled out”.

This comes as T-Mobile, once the wireless star in the US, has fallen to the fourth place (in wireless customers) after the wave of mergers that happened in 2004. Cingular, Verizon, Sprint (in order) are all larger than T-Mobile.

On top of this, T-Mobile won’t have a high-speed 3G data service until 2007. Let’s face it, T-Mobile is in deep sh.. troubles. Focusing on businesses might seem smart, after all who cares where the money comes from, if it comes? However, the reality is that in the future, the consumer will bring in the cash for wireless operators. Ringtones, Games, SMS, MMS, TV, Music are not used by businesses. Also, what prevents the competition (with a better network infrastructure) from coming at their business-centric niche? Nothing.