AS04: Communications a commodity?

Don't believe the Skype?

It's easy to ignore the 'fat pipes' guys but, argues Tony Hallett, areas such as mobility, wireless, broadband delivery and VoIP show individuals working in communications are more important than ever.

The silicon.com team made the point last year that big telecoms bosses aren't playing the part in Agenda Setters polls that they used to at the height of the telecoms/dot-com bubble. That's understandable in some ways, as plenty of fat pipes either didn't get used or failed to be rolled out as promised. But this year there is a healthy mix of very different types of individual, all making a real impact on the world as they work with communications.

The de rigeur regulator this year is the US Federal Communications Commission Michael Powell, at number 46. Last year it was a case of all eyes on Ofcom's Stephen Carter (back then the UK super regulator and those running it were big news) and now it would seem the US regulatory scene is again garnering most attention.

But comms can do a lot better than someone in the low forties. Three names that made last year's poll to return again are well-known UK-based bosses, all with global influence.

Ben Verwaayen, the Dutchman at the helm of BT, may not wield bigger budgets or have a greater reach than telco bosses in several dozen other countries or regions but at 36 he is seen as steering a once conservative, complacent beast into a better place.

Panellist Clive Longbottom, head of research at analyst house Quocirca, said Verwaayen has "changed the mentality within the company from GPO to something which can work".

Sure, there is still the market share it commands, which is important, but he added: "There's a great deal of reorganisation, especially in terms of services, and they have set a completely different agenda."

Verwaayen may not be there for years - a couple of internal BT candidates may be vying for a place in next year's poll - but he has had an effect and others around the world have taken note.

On the mobile front, we witness the disappearance of Keiji Tachikawa - no longer the leading light at influential Japanese giant NTT DoCoMo - and still no Jorma Ollila, the Nokia CEO. As per last year, there is perhaps the feeling that his tenure will soon be up and while the Finnish company remains mobile telephony's largest vendor, its future is uncertain. Time for someone else to take the helm and chart a new course, perhaps?

Symbian CEO David Levin remains a favourite, at number 32. He moved up last year to the dizzy heights of 17 and is now back again in the mid-thirties. His position looks justified, given Symbian's importance to future mobile offerings from most vendors/operators and the necessary diplomacy any Symbian head honcho must engage in.

Higher still, and the last of the recognised telecoms executives, is Vodafone CEO Arun Sarin (17). A year ago he hadn't been in the top job at the world's farthest-reaching operator for long but still placed at 13. His image hasn't been unduly tarnished by Vodafone's failed bid for AT&T Wireless in the US, it would seem - outside of this year's panel, plenty of pundits see that as an escape more than a missed chance.

Among the positives for Sarin are ongoing global clout and being brave enough to push ahead with 3G data and wireless LAN offerings - normally industry leaders let others try things first.

This year the internet industry has a representative in the form of Wanadoo boss Eric Abensur, at 28. Last year it was Softbank's Masayoshi Son - another Japanese who has failed to return - who, at 35, received votes for the way he was thinking differently, forcing others to up their game. Now the Frenchman at the ISP is getting Sky to consider delivering content 'over a wire', unbundling satellite packages. Others, especially BT, will also take note of an aggressive broadband stance.

So we are left with two wild cards this time out. Professor Joe McGeehan, in at 25, is both an academic at Bristol University and MD of Toshiba's European telecoms lab. Put simply, he is working 10 years into the future for one of the world's leading purveyors of wireless technologies. Don't believe it? Much of the work he did in the early 1990s formed the basis for today's 3G and he is now working on 4G and even 5G terminals. Soft radios are a speciality of his - no more standards wars - as is analogue.

And top of the communications 'league within a league' this time out is also someone who affects change, someone who has never been singled out before. Sweden's Niklas Zennstrom cannot match the fame or history of some of the people listed above but in a short career, one that early on took in some posts at telcos, he has been behind Kazaa and Skype.

The former was a bete noir of the music and film industries - he founded it and then got out. The latter is now turning the world of telecoms on its head, bringing free internet-based yet good-quality phone calls to millions of people.

Zennstrom's rise to the Agenda Setters bronze medal position this year is down to a combination of four things: individual qualities, a track record, a specific entity (Skype) and symbolising a wider industry trend, namely the move to voice over IP.

Can he move even higher next time out and prove communications is still fundamental to all we do? Maybe it will come down to how many of us are using Skype software.