Call it a dinner between frenemies. At a Barcelona apartment on Monday night, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg hosted about 20 executives, many from the top phone companies.
Adding to the ambience was Facebook's $19-billion agreement to buy messaging service WhatsApp, a deal that underscores the rising tension between carriers and providers of popular internet services, such as video streaming and music downloads.
Vodafone Group CEO Vittorio Colao and Orange CEO Stephane Richard - both guests at the dinner - have been vocal about the need to level the playing field between the two industries.
As Facebook benefits from soaring mobile advertising revenue and WhatsApp gains messaging users, wireless carriers, which have spent billions of dollars on building the networks that enable the so-called over-the-top services, say they are not getting their fair share.
"The risk for us is being excluded from the world of services," Richard said at the Mobile World Congress. "If that happens, we'll be downgraded to simple pipes."
Facebook reported a 55% jump in sales last year to $7.9-billion, led by growth in advertising. Its market value ballooned to $180-billion, more than that of Vodafone, Orange and Telecom Italia combined.
At the dinner, Zuckerberg and industry executives discussed Facebook's plan to team up with wireless operators to help connect more people to the internet free of charge in emerging markets. The proposal, while showing that Zuckerberg is reaching out a friendly hand to operators, is, however, not likely to generate a consensus, said analyst Eden Zoller.
"Zuckerberg's proposal is Facebook-centric, with the social network and over-the-top players reaping the immediate benefits," Zoller said. "The direct monetisation prospects for [telecoms companies] are thin. The question remains whether this will be enough to counter the negative impacts over-the-top services are having on operators."
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