Uberization of Mobile?

In the early years of the 5G era, we might well see the beginnings of a new trend, the uberization of telecom. In some ways, mobile services or devices that dynamically assign particular mobile access connections (Google Fi, Republic Wireless and others) already do so.

So far, that is essentially “Uber light,” as the core of “uberization” is “to modify a market or economic model by the introduction of a cheap and efficient alternative,” according to Wiktionary.

Others would say uberization is “the utilization of computing platforms such as, but not limited to, mobile applications or websites, in order to facilitate peer-to-peer transactions between clients and providers of a service, often bypassing the role of centrally planned corporations,” says Wiktionary.

In that sense, handsets able to pick a network connection dynamically arguably represents a weak form of uberization. A strong form (true peer-to-peer relationships between end users and other end users, or between end users and all access providers, might or might not develop.

Uberization, some argue, could happen in the telecom industry once device suppliers are able to create, with scale, the ability of their handsets to cherrypick network access platforms on the fly, essentially freeing end users from dependence on single supplier access relationships.

In other words, the handset itself will choose which access network to use, at any given moment, based on quality, price and perhaps other criteria.  

Much could depend on which part of “uberization” winds up applying most: surge pricing, demand shifting or supply shifting. Surge pricing--with its impact on demand shaping--might be most benign for suppliers, as it is simply an efficient way of rationing assets at times of high demand, or encouraging network use off peak.

Some might argue that the ability of a handset (directed its user) to flip between Wi-Fi and the mobile network is another weak form of Uberization.

The analogy to Uber is not quite exact, of course. Another way to characterize Uber is to say it mobilizes resources that are under-used and latent (cars that sit idle most of each day) by making them available to riders who pay to use those assets.

It is not so clear that that analogy actually applies so well to dynamic use of multiple access networks, but there is some element of similarity. The best fit might be a scenario where mobile users themselves have a trading platform to share access resources directly between themselves. That might resemble a dynamic form of today’s multi-user plans, with the key difference that a permanent “business relationship” between users on an account would not exist.