I don't mean the AT&T-T-Mobile merger, although that is just one battle in the war for cellular supremacy. (Other battles are Sprint with Clearwire, Sprint with the cablecos and the MVNO model.)

"Former T-Mobile CMO Denny Post says carriers should focus on retention, rather than relentless promotions aimed at new sign-ups." Post says that it is the end of the New-to-Wireless Customer Era and that cellcos must re-think customer care.

Post continues, "It is going to become an absolute competitive scrap battle, [because] any customer is going to have to come from somewhere else."

This isn't just the cellular market. Look at broadband, landlines, cable TV, voice - all flat.

While VoIP revenues are increasing, it is because TDM revenue is decreasing. Hosted UC or Hosted PBX sales are more than voice sales, but functionality, productivity, efficiency, collaboration and one-inbox. (At least, in my humble opinion).

And while the FCC has a $4B fund to get more broadband deployed, those sales will go to the first network operator that provides it IF the price is right. Although even in rural, it is a battle between satellite, local wi-fi, dial-up, and 3G/4G data cards - which isn't exactly a slam dunk customer acquisition market. Everywhere else, it is

The nice thing is that Channel churn numbers are better than direct sales. Now if the Channel could just cross-sell and upsell better....