Free-Messaging Apps Siphon Profits from Cellular Providers - NYTimes.com

More strategic challenges ahead for wide-area wireless service providers

"Standard texting is still popular. CTIA, the wireless industry trade group, said that in the first half of this year, Americans sent 1.107 trillion text messages. But that was down 2.6 percent from the 1.137 trillion messages sent in the first half of last year. Ovum, a mobile communications research firm, estimates that by 2016, Internet-based message services will have eaten up $54 billion in revenue that carriers could have made from text messaging.
For years, text messages have been a source of pure profit for carriers because it costs nearly nothing to deliver them. In response to the rise of Internet services, they have been overhauling their pricing plans to stay profitable."

Free-Messaging Apps Siphon Profits from Cellular Providers - NYTimes.com