In the USA, we are a spoiled bunch when it comes to communications. We were the first to eliminate the notion of a long distance call, and probably the first to force unlimited plans from our wireless companies. So while growth in Mobile VoIP has thrived at the consumer level in foreign markets, in the USA, meaningful scale from cheap calls alone was not to be. But thanks to Skype, VoIP on the mobile will live the American dream after all.

Skype no doubt is a monster. But what often goes unsaid is the attachment to a new way of business communications it has formed. Because of its near ubiquitous and computer agnostic nature, Skype has created dependence on presence, pre and post phone call IM sessions and to lesser extent (so far), visual communications.

As a small businessperson, Skype, in my office, is home base for communicating. I never call a contact without first asking over chat and, after a call, I rely on chat as an efficient means to close on the subject at hand. Productivity – not cheap – is what Skype means to me.

But until the Verizon/Skype news, going mobile meant leaving Skype behind and with it any mid-stream dialogs, knowledge of contact availability, and that addictive sense of business at my fingertips. With Skype in my pocket, the chasm between my soft and mobile phones is now closed. And Mobile VoIP begins the transition from minute stealing, to business critical.

The revenue opportunity this brings to both the carriers and upstart Mobile VoIP providers is fairly clear: Voice returns to favor by driving up data demand and subscriptions. As Andy Abramson put succinctly amongst his bevy of coverage this week, voice again proves it still has clout in a data world. So as Mobile VoIP matures, enters the business market and sheds its image as strictly an alternate mechanism for cheap international calls, how else can it be monetized? In Part 2, I’ll take a closer look.

Larry Lisser works with leading entrepreneurs in the emerging communications space to drive their business and market expansion. Larry blogs regularly about monetizing today’s telecom at http://telephony2market.com/