The prosperity of Europe's MNO industry at the dawn of 5G - An empirical study on the performance and regulatory environment of mobile network operators in Europe
Ladda ner
Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Master Thesis
Master Thesis
Program
Management and economics of innovation (MPMEI), MSc
Publicerad
2017
Författare
Guðjónsson, Magnús Már
Óskarsson, Ármann
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
The purpose of writing this paper was to analyze, empirically and from a regulatory perspective, the performance of European mobile operators to determine the critical factors influencing the industry's future prosperity. European operators have been faced with strict competition regulations and have seen diminishing revenues and margins, especially compared to other developed regions in the world. Relevant literature regarding market maturity and competition strategy was reviewed, as well as two contradicting theories on the effects of competition intensity on investment incentives. Relevant topics and concepts were briefly described, before the regulatory framework was reviewed both from the regulatory body and industry perspective. The regulatory review in the paper showed polarizing opinions on regulatory objectives between Europe's regulatory body and the mobile industry. The regulatory body perspective is that competition is the main driver of effective investment and end-user benefits. While the industry perspective is that the competitive environment is deterring investment because MNO´s are not only faced with internal competition but also from Over-the-top (OTT) players. The studies empirical findings on the comparison of Europe to other developed regions revealed that one of the main discrepancies between the regions was Europe's static investment intensity. The findings also showed that the state of the European markets seem to have reached market saturation. The empirical findings on the competition and investment relations show no indication that competition through increased market concentration results in increased investment intensity. On the contrary, the countries that had less competitive market structures showed to be more profitable and invested more into their networks. The paper concludes that if the EU is to achieve its ambitious goals for a timely deployment of 5G networks, regulation must conform objectives towards incentivizing investment. This can entail a switch from exante to ex-post regulatory approaches and a more favorable stance towards market consolidation.
Beskrivning
Ämne/nyckelord
Transport , Övrig industriell teknik och ekonomi , Transport , Other industrial engineering and economics