The Future Role of a Mobile Operator 2010

At the Rotterdam School of Management MBA students Marco van den Bremer-Hornsby, Frans Broeders, Marco Ekelmans, Martijn Kraijer and Wessel Swart have as part of their assignment for the course New Global Business Environment looked at the future of the role of a mobile operator in 2010. To download their full report in PDF please click here.

Introduction

T-Mobile Netherlands is the third largest telecom operator in the Netherlands. They are a full subsidiary of T-Mobile International, the mobile operator of Deutsche Telecom. T-Mobile provide a wide range of mobile products as Mobile Voice, voicemail, prepaid, SMS and Content (ring tones, logo’s pictures, games, information). The developments in the mobile telecom industry are going fast and are highly turbulent. The role and position of T-Mobile Netherlands inspired the team to get an answer on the question what could be the possible role of a mobile operator in the coming years. The technique of scenario planning provides a framework that can support the process to determine possible roles of the mobile operator in the future.

Scenarios

Bees

The last years showed a strong focus on building and linking small networks together. Via these small and tied together networks mobile communication is handled. In fact, mobile communication has become peer-to-peer mobile networking. All the standards for the WLL and WiFi networks are open and free. New technologies have been introduced to make roaming across wireless data networks build on multiple WiFi points possible. Mobile telephony has been replaced by mobile IP telephony using WiFi points.
The mobile operator does not exist anymore. There are many small networks that seamlessly integrate into one big network. The only role left for the mobile operator is that of facilitating the business model by a charging service that has replaced the credit card.

Ants

The last years showed a strong focus on building and linking small networks together. Mobile communication takes place only via these small and tied together networks. In fact, mobile communication has become peer-to-peer mobile networking. All the standards for the WLL and WiFi networks are open and free. Everybody can start his own little network and access to these small networks is easy and free. Everybody can sell content via his own basis. Content billing is via credit card. It’s the early internet times, but now for mobile communications. Efforts to structure common use of mobile communication like done via the Internet Society have failed.
The classic mobile operator is nearly dead, there is only a nice but small market left: the customers that want to call while moving. In all other cases they use the micro networks.

Octopus

Mobile communications takes place via macro networks. There are only a few mobile operators in the market (oligopoly), each with his access restrictions. There have been high investments to build the new networks. Many new services and applications are developed. The operator is an active player in the middle of all the mobile transactions. They sell content, provide location bases services and is responsible for the handling of many financial transactions. All the new services are also possible because of the convergence of the hardware into small mobile terminals. The network the operator runs is 3G and 4G is being installed. There are high margins for the operator. A sunny future appears.

Whales

Mobile communications is via macro networks. There are only a few but large mobile operators in the market (oligopoly), each with their own access restrictions. There have been high investments to build the new networks. But the operator is only a very efficient facilitator for bandwidth to voice and data applications that are developed in the market. But the operator sells no content and is not responsible for the financial transactions. He is an efficient facilitator of mobile data transport. Payments are via credit card. Due to the ever increasing need for bandwidth the role of the mobile operators remains the same as it was. Margins are still good due to license protection preventing new operators entering the market.

To download the full report in PDF please click here.