Search results

The learning outcomes of this paper are as follows: to understand the characteristics of a natural monopoly such as telecommunications sector and impact of “network externality”; to understand the role of a regulator in maintaining a balance between competition and consolidation of telecom sector; to understand the importance of first-mover advantage in telecom sector and coping mechanism of late entrants; to understand different pricing mechanisms of “natural monopolies” that can be adopted to remain profitable; to understand social cost of price floor in telecommunications sector.

Indian telecom sector is going through a downturn where most of the private sector telecom service providers have reported huge losses, failed to pay adjusted gross revenue (AGR) dues and reported decline in average revenue per user over a period of 3–4 years. Fierce competition in the sector leads to rock bottom calling and data charges. Bharti Airtel benefitted for being the first mover in terms of market share but with entry of JIO in 2016, the service providers have entered a price war. As a result, service providers have requested Mr. R.S. Sharma, Chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to come up with a floor on calling charges and requested the government for a bailout package. Currently, Mr. R.S. Sharma, Chairman TRAI is facing a dilemma whether to regulate and come up with a floor on calling and data charges or leave the sector for market correction. Mr. Sharma can also recommend to amend the definition of AGR. Telecommunications sector exhibit the characteristics of a natural monopoly where there is a need of a regulator to introduce “competition for the sector” and “competition in the sector.” In India, TRAI is the regulatory body responsible for introducing “competition for the sector” by auction and “competition in the sector” by deregulating calling and data charges, maintaining at least three private and one public service provider, decreasing “switching cost” of the customers, etc. The case deals with the issues of why there is a need of a regulator in natural monopolies, how different chairmen of TRAI have successfully introduced competition “for” and “in” the sector, and how Indian telecom sector went through a downturn? What should TRAI do to maintain competition in the sector?

The case deals with the issue of managing telecommunications sector (a natural monopoly) by a regulator in the context of India. The regulator had successfully introduced “competition in the sector” and “competition for the sector.” This led to sharp increase in subscriber base and decrease in calling and data charges. Presently, fierce competition in the sector has left the service providers cash crunched. The case deals with the dilemma faced by the chairman of the regulatory body in India on whether the regulator should come up with a price floor or market correction. Study level: MBA, Executive MBA.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 10: Public sector management.

To assess the impact of China's WTO commitments on foreign investment flows, domestic regulation and industry performance in the telecommunications services sector.

Situates GATS disciplines in telecommunications in their historical context, then reviews China's specific commitments, and finally reviews available data on developments in China since accession.

China's commitments on market access and national treatment in telecommunications services are rather modest, and China is lagging in the implementation of regulatory disciplines. Nevertheless, China has gone a long distance toward a complete transformation of the telecommunications sector with little outside influence and no outside ownership or control. It is mainly because the prospect of joining the WTO and opening to the world galvanized government and industry into action. The overall thrust of those actions, however, has been to ensure that telecommunications plays its full role as a strategic economic sector and helps deliver economic benefits to the Chinese people in order to legitimize Communist Party leadership.

Up‐to‐date and coherent data on industry performance (e.g. penetration rates, productivity increases, etc.) are lacking.

Very useful background and analysis relating to: relationship between, on the one hand, international trade commitments and, on the other hand, domestic reforms and industry performance; and on‐going issues in China's efforts to implement its WTO obligations and to create a statutory, regulatory and institutional framework supportive of continued growth of the telecommunications sector in China.

Responds to an identified information need with information and analysis of practical value.

This study aims to explore the telecom regulations and telecom reforms of different countries in the context of consumer complaints and grievance handling. The telecom dispute resolution mechanisms of countries such as Australia, the USA, the UK and India are studied. This qualitative research is carried out for the three major telecom markets: Australia, the USA and India.

Here, research is conducted in two stages. In the first stage, the telecom policies of the major telecom markets, their ombudsman policies and consumer grievance redressal mechanisms are studied. In the second stage, the qualitative analysis of the three telecom markets, Australia, the USA and India, is conducted through in-depth interviews, the questionnaire method for telecom customers and secondary research.

Telecom customer satisfaction is significantly higher in countries with the telecom ombudsman as a system of telecom governance redressal. This study dedicates significant importance to the distinctiveness of the grievance resolution systems in different countries and suggests recommendations for improving the mechanisms. The recommendations given in the research study emerge as the output of interviewing telecom experts, academicians and researchers and court judges.

This study has partial limitations as primary research was carried out only in selected countries with limited participants.

This study is useful for policymakers, regulators and think tanks in the telecommunications sector.

The resolution of individual customer grievances is significant to the telecom industry and all participants. A well-oiled grievance redressal system enhances the trust among the service users and aids in the industry’s growth. Further practical assessment of redressal offered by different telecom operators can be used for benchmarking, and it can create an onus on telecom operators for timely and adequate redressal of consumer complaints. In certain countries with a well-developed alternate dispute resolution (ADR) mechanism, the service offerings of telecom operators and the quality of services are deemed to be better than those without such an ADR. The research aims to bring in the positives of ADR systems from specific telecom markets and suggest the effectiveness of such ADR for countries such as India, which has over 1.17billion active subscribers. This research aims to aid responsive communication with telecom consumers in the overall telecom industry, which can bolster telecom consumers’ confidence and help the industry grow sustainably. Discussing perspectives on telecom dispute resolution in various conferences and discussing use-cases of innovative dispute settlements can act as stimuli in this space. As ADR procedures are conducted in the shadow of the law, a dispute resolution framework must have a buy-in from the government, telecom experts, the judiciary and private telecom stakeholders. This can only help achieve a framework that can reap the benefits of various ADR/ODR processes facilitating better access to justice, including cost-effectiveness, swiftness, a broader reach for dispute resolution and improved efficiency of dispute resolution.

Previous studies have focused on the study of telecom reforms and mechanisms in a particular country and there was a limited comparison with other countries’ mechanisms. Also, there has been minimal research in this area in recent years. This paper contributes to analyzing the effectiveness of the telecom ombudsman framework in Australia, the USA, the UK and India. It also studies the reforms and consumer grievance-handling mechanisms in a few other countries. It also gives well-researched recommendations for improving the consumer grievance resolution system.

This case study aims to analyse the different factors that cause a decline in an organisation's performance. It projects data for the prospective case readers to explore the possible approaches for the Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) to turnaround both the organisations. Furthermore, the case compels the readers to study the Indian Telecom industry to analyse the competitive behaviour and the consequent actions necessary to survive and thrive amongst their peers. From the theoretical perspective, the case emphasises the recent change observed in the Telecom industry regarding the transition from value-chain to value-network.

The authors collected the case facts and data for the case study from secondary sources like the latest news articles, the CRISIL database, company annual statements, company press releases and government regulatory body web portals.

The case study has identified the issues pertinent in the public sector companies in India, especially in the telecom sector, concerning leadership, pending government financial commitments and a slow-moving attitude towards taking action.

The case study highlights the management problems faced by the CMD of the two public sector telecom companies i.e. BSNL and MTNL.

The purpose of this study is to explore the degree of compliance of a sample of European Union (EU) listed groups with the International Financial Reporting Standard 15 (IFRS 15) mandatory disclosures in two specific sectors, namely, telecommunication and construction.

To carry out this research, the authors selected 22 annual reports for the year 2018. The authors created and completed a datasheet based on a close review of the IFRS 15 disclosure requirements. A content analysis of the selected annual reports was then performed.

The results show that the sampled groups do not fully comply with the IFRS 15 mandatory disclosures and the degree of compliance differs between the two investigated sectors.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study explores, for the first-time, the degree of compliance with the IFRS 15 mandatory disclosures, by focusing on a cross-country sample of EU listed groups.

This paper aims to present a hybrid approach to measure the efficiency of virtual contact centers (VCCs) started during the pandemic and benchmark them for service performance. The results are used to plot the VCC's efficiency score (performance) and customer perception (Importance) to propose appropriate strategies.

Using the survey method, 854 responses were collected from customers who used VCC services during the pandemic. This data was then employed to assess the performance of VCCs using SERVPERF and DEA methods, followed by the development of the model for performance analysis.

Results reveal the ranking of different VCCs started during the pandemic for the telecom company using SERVPERF and DEA methods. Further, the performance analysis model highlighted the strategies appropriate for each VCCs.

The findings add to the body of knowledge on how multiple service units of a large organization can assess service efficiency utilizing a combination of SERVPERF-DEA. The present work also contributes to the performance analysis field by proposing a model to assess the service centers and provide improvement guidelines.

The work is one of the first to assess the service efficiency of the VCCs started during the pandemic by using a unique hybrid approach of SERVPERF and DEA. This approach provides a direction to whom to benchmark and to what degree service quality should be improved. Further, the study proposes a unique performance analysis model based on performance scores and customer perception.

This article critically examines the multiple rationales for telecom, IT, media convergence regulation, on the one hand, and multisector utility regulation, on the other, and the practical questions of implementation they pose, with a view to contributing to informed policy and regulatory decisions. Both options involve substantive as well as procedural issues, not necessarily separable. The conditions that may affect the creation of convergence and multi‐sector regulation, ranging from underlying commonality of inputs and the behaviour of regulated firms to considerations that are specific to the regulatory process such as scarcity of regulatory resources and safeguards for regulatory independence, are examined. It is concluded that ICT and media convergence issues are primarily about improving the efficiency of market economies, and how changes in regulation can facilitate this process. Multi‐sector regulation issues are primarily about establishing the efficiency and effectiveness of regulation, so it can be a catalyst for network and economic development. They arise from an initial diagnosis of different problems, and represent different priorities and pathways to achieving a very similar set of development objectives.

To analyse the evolution of the Swedish telecommunications sector (1970‐2003), with a focus on barriers and drivers of innovative activity.

Developing a functional approach to innovation systems analysis, where six basic interdependent functions need to be served for a new technology to be developed and diffused and for a supporting industry to evolve. The sector is divided into four major sub‐sectors: traditional fixed telecom; mobile telephony; fixed data communications (including internet); and mobile data communications (including mobile internet).

Relate to two questions: first, how did it happen that Sweden developed a leading innovation system for mobile telephony but not for data communication; and second, what are the strengths and weaknesses of the innovation system for mobile data communications? Findings include that early developments mattered, innovative search direction is crucial as are the provision of incentives for innovative activity.

Functional analysis of innovation systems useful for guiding policy actions, which should have the purpose of strengthening weak functions, removing bottlenecks and stimulating inducement mechanisms, in particular if used to stimulate the transition from one phase to another. It needs further development, in particular with respect to the understanding of diffusion processes.

The stimulation of innovation in, and diffusion of, mobile and broadband data services is crucial to development of the innovation system, globally, in Europe and in Sweden. An innovation system which allows for entrepreneurial experimentation should be fostered. Early stage financing and diffusion of services are major system weaknesses. Regulatory authorities should consider addressing innovation explicitly.

New (adapted) approach for guiding policy action. Better understanding of dynamics in the telecom sector, and the comparative success and failure of Swedish industry in sub‐sectors.

The telecom sector has changed dramatically during the last decade. In order to meet new regulations, fierce competition and a growing demand for cheap and high quality telecom services by multinationals, European public telecom operators have created pan‐European strategic alliances. This paper focuses on the question of how Unisource, an alliance of Swedish Telia, Dutch KPN Telecom, Swiss Telecom and Spanish Telefónica has coped with the control vs commitment dilemma. The four telecom providers wanted to merge their activities with Unisource. To create commitment and trust the parents used a synergy strategy to deal with cultural diversity. Unisource was started in 1992, but finally collapsed in 1999 due to lack of commitment. The crisis in Unisource shows the dilemma of control vs commitment in a dynamic transition process of organisations.

This paper intends to promote a re‐consideration of the most appropriate policy framework for implementing the European Union (EU) digital agenda.

The paper examines relevant EU documentation and the related research literature on EU telecommunications reform within a context of economic market theory and policy analysis models.

The liberalization principle driving EU telecommunications reform for the past quarter century has stalled, and may be reversed by the policy framework adopted for implementing the digital agenda. The public sector broadband funding model is likely to be wasteful and ineffective. Other options for implementation should be considered.

This paper examines current EU policy shaping the development of broadband networks and the evolution of the digital economy and information society. It highlights the progress and limitations of EU policy as it has evolved as a reference for implementation of current policy objectives. It will be of value to policy makers, industry analysts and players, as well as researchers in academia and other institutions.