n to the illustrated change, the end user can easily change retailer, making his position even stronger. These changes lead to a faster, less controllable and less predictable development than what was previously the case. 'Churn' is a key word, indicating the degree of subscriber movements from one operator to another. The fact that the end user is the main (final) financing source for telecom development gives a further dimension of user power. It also explains the increasing interest in the development of average revenue per user (ARPU) for various user segments. In general the expense patterns for needs such as food, entertainment and communication have been fairly stable. ARPU is further dealt with in Chapter 4. Figure 2.3 shows another way to describe the new power of the user. With many operators there is also churn between parallel networks. The development towards a technically unified single network is maybe a vision. Today we are in the middle of an unparalleled transitional period. Although the increas- ing abundance of possible services contributes to end-user power, it also creates uncer- tainty. A main reason for this is the (virtual?) unpredictability of the user. A good example is SMS. The technical solution and the user interface are far from perfect, but SMS fulfils an obvious need. In Sweden in 2001 more than one billion SMS messages were sent, despite a cost of 1:25-1:50 SEK per mail. Videophone, on the other hand, has been a potential service since the 1970s with little success SO far. It can be said that a successful service is an affordable service that fulfils a need. Yet, it is no guarantee of revenue or retention of customers. For the actors with an interface to the end user, a true understanding of the end-user needs, professional customer care and appropriate service level agreements are keys to retaining existing end users and to acquiring new ones. Thus, customer focus is more important than ever before. But the questions are: what is really needed from a human point of view, consid