An opportunity for ISPs

I googled ‘ISP growth market’ and came up with 106 hits (Search News, not Search The Web). 106 hits? That is amazing. Very few of the news items were US-based (except for the press releases). Most were fluff pieces from the UK, South Africa, Canada, Australia, Ireland, etc.

The ISP market is experiencing saturation, commoditization, and consolidation. In other words, ISPs have nothing to offer other than price, speed, and security. They are being relegated to bundling access with other telecom services, cannibalizing their own subscription base, or poaching other service providers. Prices are dropping, costs are growing, and margins are eroding.

What’s a Service Provider to do? Given the scarcity of news (or even press releases) in this area, one has to conclude that they aren’t doing much of anything.

I can’t help but wonder at the disparity between all the hype with Web 2.0 and the seeming disconnect with ISPs who were the primary reason the Internet was born in the first place. How is Web 2.0 being facilitated and leveraged by ISPs? The only leveraging seems to be by the Web 2.0 providers leveraging ISP subscribers who use their ISP to access all the cool Web 2.0 tools.

I also googled ‘ISP wiki’. That produced 3 hits. Am I missing something here? Is an ISP not the most natural platform for wiki capabilities you can imagine?

I’ve had a business model in mind for some time now as to how an ISP could offer wiki capabilities to not only their subscription base but to non-subscribers as well. It would be free, it will drive subscription growth, and it can make a ton of money.

If you are aware of an ISP offering wiki capabilities, please let me know. Again, I’m interested in wiki functionality that allows private groups to form and conduct their business. I’m NOT interested in the big, Wikipedia style of wiki.

If you have a stake in an ISP with at least 100,000 subscribers and need to find a differentiating service offering that will multiply your subscription base, I’d like to talk to you. Email me and we can chat.