An addendum to last week's column, which lamented how the spate of mega-carrier mergers could threaten innovation and slow the adoption of new technologies: It appears to be happening already.

As it prepares to merge with Sprint, Nextel reportedly is ending its trial of Flarion's Flash-OFDM broadband wireless technology because it is not compatible with Sprint's CDMA 1xEV-DO selection for next-gen network migration. A Nextel representative told Telephony this week that the trial always had an end date and that the company is now moving to an analysis phase before making any further moves. But the "end date" for technology trials--particularly one that has been analyzed as long as Flarion's has--typically involves deployment, not just further analysis.

The other headline-grabbers are the still-unconfirmed reports of Qwest courting MCI and Verizon courting Sprint (presumably after Sprint finishes absorbing Nextel)--all this, of course, in addition to the SBC/AT&T whopper. Again, and as the Nextel/Flarion development demonstrates, none of this can be good news for the acceptance and integration of new technologies--at least in the short-term, as these super-sized deals are negotiated and carried out.

If this is the big-carrier trend we're going to have to live with for a while, perhaps it's time to start counting on other service provider sectors for innovative technology experimentation and deployment. Anyone have any ideas?

E-mail me at jmeyers@primediabusiness.com