So tells J.P. Rangaswami of BT to the WSJ Blog as it acquires Ribbit. JP is a heck of a smart guy who has been molding BTs culture to go from "screwdrivers" to "keyboards". And my friends Phil Wainewright and Jeff Kaplan are positive about this acquisition.
But, JP what exactly is wrong in your core business of "providing access to the internet"?
It is the job of telcos to make the access faster, cheaper, better. Less than the quarter of the US and Europe mobile users has 3G access. Much of US and Europe homes are still on "narrowband" speeds only slightly better than dial up. And we are the "developed" world.
But let me not call it a job. As I wrote here, it's mind boggling the opportunities globalization, telemetry, mobility etc are creating for telcos. Who else can build communications infrastructure at that scale? Who else knows how to manage those big capex projects?
As I like to tell outsourcers - quit dreaming up innovation projects. There are so many innovation opportunities in your own operations.
Same with telcos. Plenty of money and margin in just providing access to the internet - from home, from the farm, from the road, from the air etc. For people, for sensors, for devices. Around the world.
