<p>While the tech world waits to see what exactly Facebook is going to be doing with Android next week (An updated application? A new UI layer for people to install? An entire phone built around Facebook?), there is one group that should be worried about the disruption Facebook's mobile play will have on their business. That group is the mobile phone network operators.</p><p>For a long time the network's biggest fear was that they would become nothing more than a pipe to the Internet, moving bits between online servers and mobile handsets. While that is a vital function, it wasn't sexy. It wasn't the sort of service that could provide a huge value-add to customers, and drive income up to the benefit of shareholders.</p><p>That's why networks continue to work on having their own portals and app stores, that's why they provide a range of applications and services that are only available on their network, and that's why they continue to push their own solutions into the firmware of popular devices.</p><p>Data is a race to the bottom in terms of cost. People want cheaper mobile phone contracts with more bandwidth, and that's an equation that networks fear. At the moment the profit is elsewhere, in services such as voice calls, texting, and having the ability to stay in touch with another mobile device. As it stands, you still go through a network for this vital human function.</p><p><a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/2013/03/30/the-facebook-phone-puts-text-messaging-profits-at-risk/">Keep reading...</a></p><p>Read also:</p><p><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/mobility/messaging/facebook-phone-android-event-teased/240151949">Facebook Phone? Android Event Teased</a> (InformationWeek (blog))</p><p><a href="http://phandroid.com/2013/03/29/report-facebook-will-unveil-custom-android-interface/">Report: Facebook will unveil custom Android interface using proprietary camera ...</a> (Phandroid.com)</p><p><a href="http://gigaom.com/2013/03/30/a-facebook-phone-is-this-the-final-brick-in-the-social-networks-walled-garden/">A Facebook phone: Is this the final brick in the social network&#039;s walled garden?</a> (GigaOM)</p><p>Explore: <a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=df36Ha9diHXQygM2T7qpNzBmRV2zM&ned=us">230 additional articles.</a></p>