Three essays on the telecommunications industry

Abstract

The telecommunications industry is definitely one of the most technologically innovative and continuously changing sectors of the world economy. The rapid pace of technology innovation allows heterogeneous technologies to coexist, converge, and compete while emerging technologies are continually introduced. Several external factors including deregulation, privatization, technological change and globalization have forced the telecommunications market to become more dynamic. Convergence within industries, including fixed-mobile convergence and convergence between the telecommunications industry and others, such as the broadcasting and Internet industry has significantly accelerated the radical change of the telecommunications industry. Because of its complexity and sophistication, it might be impossible to fully draw the whole picture including the structures consisting of the constituent units, relations between them, and their behaviors surrounding the telecommunications industry. This dissertation, however, attempts to examine some important issues which have not yet been studied, to gain a broader understanding of the telecommunications industry. This dissertation is comprised of three essays. The first essay is related to relationships between existing and emerging telecommunications technologies while the second essay addresses the cost structure of the telecommunications industry. The final essay is related to the most general but most important behaviors of telecommunications firms- mergers and acquisitions. Although this dissertation may not provide a full understanding of the telecommunications industry, it will outline meaningful implications to researchers as well as to business players and policy makers. The first essay systematically examines the portable Internet service (PIS) as a promising emerging technology, focusing on its role in rectifying the service inadequacies in current mobile broadband technologies. PIS is an emerging wireless techno...