Big Fon

I'm jetting off to Barcelona early tomorrow to hang out with the fiber geeks for a couple of days, at the FTTH Council Europe's annual trench-dig. Fun though that may sound, I hear that the real Fun will be taking place to the southwest, in Madrid, where Fon will be celebrating its first birthday. Remember that this feisty contender requires from the end user a hardware, not just a software, commitment, so don't expect anything like Skype user numbers after year one. But then consider that we're talking about viral access here, and an opportunity for some mainstream carriers to assert themselves virtually in the wireless domain. We've already seen it with NeufCegetel in France and a host of other, smaller players. What might lie ahead in 2007? Ignore at your peril...