The extortionate bread of Gulfosia

Now let's imagine that you manage to speed up this process until it becomes so quick there is no delay between the audio messages. 'I just got promoted.' 'Congratulations!' 'Thank you.' Just like a phone call, except over the internet.

Welcome to the wonders of VoIP.

Suddenly, there's a knock on the door. Enter a disapproving government official: you've just broken the law. No single element of what you've done is illegal: use the internet, record your voice, send and download files. But the sum of the parts is banned.

Why? Simply put, because many Middle East telcos want to charge a high price for what is now technically possible for free. 'So how are you?' 'Just got arrested.' 'By Jove, that's dashed bad luck.' Yep - back to the Dark Ages.

'It's up to the operator whether they see it as a disruptive thread or a profitable and complementary opportunity.' A senior Nokia executive describes their take on VoIP, called UMA - Unlicensed Mobile Access. Nokia has just introduced a mobile phone that allows users to make dramatically cheap internet phone calls. What are the chances of the average Gulf monopoly telco accepting it? Slim to nil, going by current attitudes.

'Extended cellular indoors, reduced network congestion, competitive pricing at hotspots.' Just some of the benefits of UMA, according to Nokia. But it's the last one that reduced Middle East journalists to laughter or tears. Monopoly (or highly controlled duopoly) telcos don't need or want 'competitive pricing'. They have no competition. They're ecstatically happy to be charging a dollar or more a minute for international calls that in other countries would cost a couple of cents.

Let's look at it in another way. All the inhabitants of the mythical state of Gulfosia subsist solely on expensive bread bought from a single, government-owned company. It's so expensive that many can barely afford to eat each day; others just starve. Suddenly, someone invents a highly economical bread-making process resulting in Budget Bread. For a fraction of the cost, cheap and plentiful bread can be produced, enough for all Gulfosians to grow fat and happy.

What does the National Gulfosian Bread Company do? Does it adopt the advanced new bread-making technology, bringing out basic, affordable bread plus a host of exciting new premium pastries to tempt customers? Or does it prosecute anyone making or eating Budget Bread, and continue to churn out its old-fashioned, dull, overpriced bread while poorer Gulfosians go hungry.

One choice is extortion, the other is progress. It's up to telcos worldwide to decide which path they want to take.