My jaded take on the wireless VoIP-cell cannibalization issue

Cannibalism is the act of eating another member of the same species.

Humans used to do it. Many animals still do.

And maybe even cell phone companies, especially when those same companies also offer wireless VoIP.

An article on the IT news service Wireless NewsFactor raised that possibility yesterday. The piece described the thoughts of Sprint vice president of technology development Oliver Valente.

Apparently, Valente believes that whilecell and wireless VoIP have the potential to cannibalize each other's user base, a company that offers either cell or VoIP as part of a wireless-wired service bundle, " 'then carriers actually have an opportunity to increase both their revenue and customer numbers,' " Valente toldWireless NewsFactor.

"In the latter case, the traffic over the macro-network 'simply gets re-routed into an integrated wire-line bundle, which raises revenue versus eating into it.' "

Let me give you my more jaded take. If a telcom gets you on a multiple-services plan for $80 bucks a month or more, that's enough money in the telcom's till for them to shrug off any cannibalization worries.

Full disclosure: I occasionally write for NewsFactor, and I'm a Sprint PCS customer.

OK, now that we got that out of the way, does wireless VoIP sound like a cannibalization risk for cell services offered by the same company? Post a TalkBack.