Virtual operators in the mobile industry: a techno-economic analysis Export

@article{citeulike:2887355, abstract = {Abstract\ \ For a company planning to become a mobile operator, two alternative ways to enter the market exist. In addition to the traditional way of acquiring a spectrum license and building a mobile network, market entrance is also possible by becoming a virtual operator and utilizing the existing networks of incumbent operators. Potentially, virtual operators will have an important role in shaping the mobile market structure and competition. In this paper, techno-economic modeling methods are used to analyze the position of virtual operators in the mobile communications industry. Four alternative virtual operator scenarios are constructed and analyzed using a linear, deterministic, and quantitative techno-economic model. The results highlight the importance of wholesale contracts with incumbent mobile network operators in determining the virtual operators' business profitability. Unbalance in termination prices between fixed and mobile networks is shown to give incentives for virtual operators to invest in their own network infrastructure.}, author = {Smura, Timo and Kiiski, Annukka and H\"{a}mm\"{a}inen, Heikki}, citeulike-article-id = {2887355}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11066-008-9012-3}, doi = {10.1007/s11066-008-9012-3}, journal = {NETNOMICS}, keywords = {industrial\_organisation, industrialorganisation, information\_economics, informationeconomics, mvno, network\_economics, networkeconomics, technoeconomics, telecommunications}, posted-at = {2008-08-28 20:26:35}, priority = {2}, title = {Virtual operators in the mobile industry: a techno-economic analysis}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11066-008-9012-3} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:2887355 L3 - citeulike-article-id:2887355 N2 - Abstract  For a company planning to become a mobile operator, two alternative ways to enter the market exist. In addition to the traditional way of acquiring a spectrum license and building a mobile network, market entrance is also possible by becoming a virtual operator and utilizing the existing networks of incumbent operators. Potentially, virtual operators will have an important role in shaping the mobile market structure and competition. In this paper, techno-economic modeling methods are used to analyze the position of virtual operators in the mobile communications industry. Four alternative virtual operator scenarios are constructed and analyzed using a linear, deterministic, and quantitative techno-economic model. The results highlight the importance of wholesale contracts with incumbent mobile network operators in determining the virtual operators’ business profitability. Unbalance in termination prices between fixed and mobile networks is shown to give incentives for virtual operators to invest in their own network infrastructure. JF - NETNOMICS TI - Virtual operators in the mobile industry: a techno-economic analysis KW - industrial_organisation KW - industrialorganisation KW - information_economics KW - informationeconomics KW - mvno KW - network_economics KW - networkeconomics KW - technoeconomics KW - telecommunications AU - Smura, Timo AU - Kiiski, Annukka AU - Hämmäinen, Heikki UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11066-008-9012-3 ER -