Entering the mobile service market via mobile platforms: Qualcomm's BREW platform and Nokia's Preminet platform

The mobile telecommunication market has evolved from simple voice to multimedia services. In the past, the primary players in mobile services were local operators in different countries; international telecommunication vendors, such as Qualcomm and Nokia, were seldom involved in the mobile service market. In order to enter this market, Qualcomm and Nokia have separately introduced their mobile application platforms, called respectively BREW and Preminet. This paper examines how the two companies attempt to share the mobile service market through their mobile platforms and internationalized business models. This paper also analyzes their mobile platforms’ business models and their strategic implications.     

规制定价机制的激励强度权衡与模型设计--以我国电信产业的规制定价总体模型设计为例

自然垄断产业中，由于规制机构与被规制企业之间存在着信息不对称。价格规制政策的实施效果受到制约，而制度背景和经济发展程度是设计一个适合国情的规制定价机制必须考虑的前提因素。本文分析了我国目前的制度特征如何影响我国自然垄断产业规制定价机制激励强度的权衡。在此基础上，尝试提出适合我国目前制度特征的电信产业规制定价总体模型——基于收益率规制并加入动态激励因素的规制定价模型．最后对未来的规制定价机制做出展望．     

Regulatory factors influencing Internet access in Australia and China: a comparative analysis

Internet access is determined by a combination of a widely available telecommunication infrastructure and affordability of Internet services, which are closely related to government policies (IT Group. (1999). Like other countries, both Australia and China have considered the Internet a powerful tool for national development economically and socially. As Internet growth becomes more and more significant, it becomes important to address the extent to which the underlying communication policies influence current growth rates.This paper provides a comparative review of policy approaches to regulating the Internet in both China and Australia. This study aims to identify the regulatory factors affecting Internet access in terms of availability and affordability, especially those factors which encourage the creation of a policy and regulatory environment favourable to the development of Internet infrastructure and access.This paper examines the linkages between regulatory regimes, market environments and Internet access in both China and Australia. The preliminary result suggests that government policies governing the telecommunications service market and promoting information infrastructure have a significant impact on the affordability and availability of Internet access. The most significant factor is the level of competition permitted in the telecommunication sector. It has become clear that further regulatory initiatives such as deregulatory mechanisms and interconnection regimes are needed to establish a more competitive environment for Internet access in both countries, and more particularly in China.     

Preparing for the next revolution in telecommunications: implementing the WTO agreement

The forces of globalization and convergence are generating the need for a new international system of governance for telecommunication. This future system is in the process of being planned, shaped, and implemented and the ITU is facilitating its development. Key considerations include governance based on the principles of internationalism, universalism, regulatory symmetry and independence, and open access. The ITU’s expanding structure, which now involves the participation in global policy development by industry as well as government can take major steps toward achieving real universal service and bringing more people into the world community.     

Universal service and disabled people

The EU regulatory framework enacted 25 May 2011 has the objective to provide functionally equal access to telecommunication services for disabled persons. What are the rules, who are the target groups, and what obstacles do they face when using various telecommunication services? And what arrangements do exist in a selected group of six EU Member States to remove these obstacles? Recommendations include the introduction of a more market-oriented approach, independent of specific networks.     

Does the growth of mobile markets cause the demise of fixed networks? – Evidence from the European Union

The increasing usage of mobile communication and the declining demand for fixed line telephony in Europe make the analysis of substitutional effects between fixed and mobile networks a key aspect for future telecommunication regulation. Using a unique dataset which contains information on all 27 European Union members from 2003 to 2009, we analyze substitutability between fixed and mobile telecommunication services in Europe by applying dynamic panel data techniques. We find strong empirical evidence for substitution from fixed to cellular networks throughout Europe. In addition, the paper reveals resulting policy implications.     

Are OTT messaging and mobile telecommunication an interrelated market? An empirical analysis

OTT messengers such as Facebook and WhatsApp have gained wide popularity among mobile users while the traffic of text messaging is in strong decline. As such, there is a debate over whether both services are interrelated and constitute a joint product market, which has important implications for the current wave of mergers in the mobile industry and regulation policy. To the best of our knowledge, this work is the first to provide an empirical analysis of how the consumption of OTT messengers affects demand for text messaging and mobile voice services. We make use of an innovative dataset which includes very detailed information on smartphone usage in Norway and consider a novel approach to address this question which is embedded in the complexity of two-sided markets. Interestingly, our findings suggest that OTT messengers complement demand for traditional mobile telecommunication services for this context. Consequently, both markets are interrelated but do not constitute a joint market from the perspective of competition policy in Norway. Moreover, we find an explanation for why reductions of text messaging usage have been so drastic in some countries and an analogous development for mobile voice is rather unlikely. Finally, our empirical results provide a new perspective on the modelling of consumer utility in communication networks in the theoretical literature.     

5G networks: Will technology and policy collide?

Despite being still under development, it is envisaged that 5G networks will provide a ‘fibre-like’ experience to mobile users. As such, they are expected to accommodate services with very different requirements in terms of latency, bandwidth and reliability, among others, for the vertical sectors. However, the European Union has just approved the Telecommunications Single Market Regulation, which enshrines the network neutrality principle and guarantees that ‘all traffic through the Internet is treated equally’. This article explores the potential conflict between net neutrality regulation and future 5G services, particularly regarding network virtualisation. We present a discussion on the challenges of building net neutrality upon judgements on whether traffic optimisation is objectively necessary. This proves complex in a technological environment that envisions network ‘slices’ created and priced on-demand according to the Quality of Service (QoS) required by specific applications at any given time. In addition, we argue that the ‘anything-as-a-service’ paradigm might turn into an important source of innovation for the future Internet infrastructure layer, and thus for the ecosystem as a whole.     

Inequalities of opportunity in the access and use of telecommunication services in Togo

The liberalization of the telecommunications sector in Togo aimed at ensuring access to a better quality of telecommunication services at affordable prices to everyone. While the liberalization policy has increased competition in the sector and reduced significantly telecommunication services prices charged to costumers, statistics on the access and use of telecommunication services in Togo reveal disparities with respect to individuals' socio-economic characteristics which could be an indication of the existence of inequalities of opportunities in the access and use of these services.This paper investigates the inequalities of opportunity in the access and use of telecommunication services in Togo using a parametric approach. The results of estimations indicate that, inequalities of opportunities are larger for men and the elderly than respectively women and youths and are more pronounced in urban areas and regions such as the Plateaux and Savanna regions. Moreover, the circumstance variables such as the ‘place of residence’ and the ‘region’ are the key variables in explaining the inequalities of opportunities in the access and use of telecommunication services in Togo. So, policies toward reducing inequalities of opportunity in the access and use of telecommunication services in Togo should be designed with regards to men, the elderly, and people living in urban areas and regions such as the Plateaux and Savanna regions.     

Research in West Germany

In early 1976, the West German Federal Commission for Development of the Telecommunication System (Kommission fuer den Ausbau des technischen Kommunikationssystems) published its study on the future development of telecommunications. The main recommendation of the federal commission was the extension of ‘conventional’ services (ie telephone, telex). Three and a half years later, one can argue that nothing has changed fundamentally in the telecommunication sector in West Germany.     

Convergence and regulation of multi-screen television: The Singapore experience

This article addresses complicated convergent and regulatory issues arising from cross-platform audiovisual services and analyzes Singapore's multi-screen television experience. A “platform neutrality” multi-screen TV regulatory scheme is proposed to concentrate on content classification in order to respond to the fast-changing audiovisual industry and competition. Under the scheme, different content and license regulations are applied to four types of TV-like services which are categorized by “socio-cultural impact” (i.e., broadcasting and mass market vs. VOD and niche market)” and “content production/aggregation model” (i.e., gatekeeping vs. participatory mechanism). In addition, competition, content regulation, and digital copyright are identified as key issues involved in the fast-growing cross-platform audiovisual media industry. Finally, this study analyzes market development, regulatory issues, and national plans for multi-screen TV services in Singapore and examines them under the proposed regulatory scheme. Market and policy recommendations are discussed.     

Regulation of the Canadian cable industry: A comparative analysis

The Canadian and US cable television industries have similar economic characteristics and market structures, yet each has a distinct mix of programme services and a different history of development. These differences are largely due to a different economic status in each country, cultural peculiarities and contrasting theories of regulation. The US regulatory environment is gradually moving toward a laissez-faire market approach while in Canada more traditional and formal rules still apply which constrict economic behaviour. This difference in regulatory philosophy is most evident in the treatment of pay television. Canadian regulatory policy has given rise to rules which are at variance with economic incentives and efficiency.     

Geographies of imperfection in telecommunication analysis

Rapid increases in computing power and data storage capacity, along with the continued evolution of commercial geographic information systems (GIS), have significantly widened the production and consumption of spatial data. Considering the varying disciplines (sociology, economics, public policy, city and regional planning, regional science, geography, etc.) investigating digital economies, the Internet, and telecommunications, it is no surprise that spatial data related to such topics is in high demand. Due to the technological complexities of telecommunication systems, however, analysts need to be aware of potential impacts associated with the use of imperfect spatial information when evaluating telecommunication infrastructure, particularly in the context of social, political, economic and environmental issues. More importantly, the implications of imperfect information on telecommunication policy development must be considered. The purpose of this paper is to explore how data imperfection is resident in a range of telecommunication analyses. A framework is presented for identifying and addressing spatial analysis sensitivities in the use of imperfect information. In addition, a case study examining imperfect information associated with digital subscriber line (xDSL) deployment in Columbus, Ohio is provided. Results suggest a significant difference in the proposed vs. actual availability of xDSL services in the study area.     

Competitive relationships between traditional and contemporary telecommunication services in Taiwan

This study sets out to examine the competitive relationships that exist within the telecommunications market using the niche theory on the personal gratifications and system gratifications dimensions. The findings from the analysis of 363 survey responses indicate that traditional and contemporary telecommunication services offer different specializations to satisfy their consumers. Overall, mobile telecommunication services partially replace wired services, on personal gratifications dimensions in particular. The system gratifications dimensions of the wired telecommunication services facilitate the existence of wired services. New telecommunication services (3G and VoIP) partially replace old telecommunication services (home landline and 2G) in providing greater satisfaction in entertainment. The results also demonstrate that VoIP does not impose competitive displacement effects on home landline, 2G, and 3G services. Limitation and suggestions are discussed.     

Visions to stay home by Visual services for home delivery

An appraisal of future, comprehensive visual telecommunication services is presented. Central to this appraisal is an identification of benefits the services may yield, and a separate examination of problems that might offset the benefits. While it appears that service providers and product suppliers will gain substantially from such services, benefits to users are not so evident.     

Regulation and innovation in 5G markets

This article examines the roles and consequences of different approaches to 5G market design for innovation. The analysis is grounded in a conceptual framework that explicitly considers the complementarities among networks, applications, and services. Good policy arrangements align the legal and regulatory framework with the technical and economic characteristics of the sector and the broader, social visions for new technologies. Because the future development of 5G technology and markets is open-ended, policy has to be developed with incomplete knowledge and under conditions of uncertainty. These circumstances call for adaptive forms of policy and a focus on the creation of guardrails for market players, backed up by regulatory powers to intervene more directly if necessary. In the technologically dynamic 5G system, multiple stable policy constellations are feasible, but they likely will result in divergent outcomes and performance characteristics. Monitoring of the experience with different national and international developments will facilitate global learning and the incremental improvement of policy frameworks.     

AI governance in the public sector: Three tales from the frontiers of automated decision-making in democratic settings

The rush to understand new socio-economic contexts created by the wide adoption of AI is justified by its far-ranging consequences, spanning almost every walk of life. Yet, the public sector's predicament is a tragic double bind: its obligations to protect citizens from potential algorithmic harms are at odds with the temptation to increase its own efficiency - or in other words - to govern algorithms, while governing by algorithms. Whether such dual role is even possible, has been a matter of debate, the challenge stemming from algorithms' intrinsic properties, that make them distinct from other digital solutions, long embraced by the governments, create externalities that rule-based programming lacks. As the pressures to deploy automated decision making systems in the public sector become prevalent, this paper aims to examine how the use of AI in the public sector in relation to existing data governance regimes and national regulatory practices can be intensifying existing power asymmetries. To this end, investigating the legal and policy instruments associated with the use of AI for strenghtening the immigration process control system in Canada; “optimising” the employment services” in Poland, and personalising the digital service experience in Finland, the paper advocates for the need of a common framework to evaluate the potential impact of the use of AI in the public sector. In this regard, it discusses the specific effects of automated decision support systems on public services and the growing expectations for governments to play a more prevalent role in the digital society and to ensure that the potential of technology is harnessed, while negative effects are controlled and possibly avoided. This is of particular importance in light of the current COVID-19 emergency crisis where AI and the underpinning regulatory framework of data ecosystems, have become crucial policy issues as more and more innovations are based on large scale data collections from digital devices, and the real-time accessibility of information and services, contact and relationships between institutions and citizens could strengthen – or undermine - trust in governance systems and democracy.     

Internet telephony: Costs,pricing, and policy

This article analyzes Internet Service Provider costs and regulatory and policy issues raised by Internet telephony. Transport and non-technical items such as customer service, sales and marketing, represent a substantial portion of an ISP’s costs with Internet telephony. Pricing models and yield management techniques supporting Internet voice services might be employed for other Internet differentiated services as well. An integrated regulatory framework will be required, because of convergence, to formulate policies for multimedia services. We conclude that governments should develop appropriate policies without introducing economic and technical distortions into the nascent Internet telephony market.     

The implementation of advanced telecommunications and services in the Greek academic and research environment: main issues and results

Efforts for the introduction within the Greek academic–research domain of telecommunication infrastructures based on international standards date back to the early 1980s. Today, the focus is on the deployment of high-performance networks capable of supporting advanced telematic applications such as distance learning, teletraining, and telemedicine. Recent efforts aimed at the implementation of advanced telecommunications and telematic services considered important for Greece are examined in this paper. These efforts are within the framework of activities for the realization of the European information superhighway. It is concluded that the benefits obtained to date for the academic and research community in Greece are significant; further, the experience obtained is expected to produce, in the course of time, multiplicative benefits across wider sections of the Greek society.