Vodafone AirTouch is reported to be considering a bid for Lycos, the Internet portal and directory service. This isn't a surprise.

For a start, the price tag - around $10bn - would be small potatoes for Vodafone, given its future growth predictions, the cost of 3G licences, and what it ended up paying for Mannesmann.

But whether or not a deal is completed, the prospect of this kind of tie-up highlights a seismic shift in Internet power.

Lycos is an Internet stalwart, growing up with the medium - but it is now more valuable to the companies that will drive the next wave of growth. Those companies - with some notable exceptions - are the mobile phone network operators, soon to become full mobile Internet service providers (MISPs).

In the UK, we're seeing BT Cellnet and Orange publicise their Internet-over-the-phone services. This is just the beginning for the MISP.