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On October 1, 2017, Gopal Vittal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer-India and South Asia, Bharti Airtel, was in his New Delhi office reviewing current trends and Airtel's position in Indian Telecom. His primary concern was the shifting data consumption trend in the Indian Telecom Industry (Exhibit 1) and the disruptive changes that were impacting pricing and profitability since the entry of Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (Jio) in September 2016. Data consumption in Indian telecom had started increasing exponentially after the entry of Jio who offered lifetime free voice services followed by rock-bottom data tariffs. As Vittal reviewed the data, he wondered if the voice market through a non-VOIP provision was now saturated and would rapidly decline. He was also concerned about the price and revenue implications for Airtel. How might the voice market evolve? How should he act on the pricing front to enable Airtel revenues to continue to grow in the context of what appeared to be predatory pricing by Reliance Jio?

The purpose of this paper is to examine in a fully up-to-date manner the position in respect to the licensing and launch of long-term evolution (LTE) in a region that attracts relatively little attention when treated as a whole because the emphasis is usually upon the very large individual markets (China, India and Japan) contained within it. The purpose is also to examine the role of international groups and the extent to which the licensing of LTE can make a difference to the structure of mobile markets in the region.

The initial step was to compile extensive databases with respect to the licensing and launch of high-speed networks in the region – defined both narrowly and also to encompass countries that are often treated as part of the Middle East – arranged so as to emphasise the status of dominant incumbents. There is a discussion of new entry and its potential to disrupt incumbents.

For historical reasons, the region contains countries that have strong differences whether defined in terms of economic, social or cultural characteristics, and hence it has not been easy for a network with international aspirations to expand outside its home market nor for, say, European-based operators to gain a foothold. Attempts to introduce competition via new licences has also been problematic because of the strong, and sometimes very large, incumbents already present.

This is necessarily an overview that uses selected data to describe the overall picture because of the substantial number of quite different markets surveyed.

It is possible to forecast how certain structural changes will occur – primarily the withdrawal of international groups such as Millicom that prefer to concentrate upon other regions.

The databases that underpin the analysis are author-compiled and entirely original.

This paper examines Europe‐wide research initiatives co‐ordinated on a European Union level through the successive EU Research Framework Programmes (FP), particularly through its sub‐programme Information Society Technologies (IST). The IST vision of future wireless systems is described, and an overview of research activities concerning mobile communications of IST in FP6 and FP5 is presented, including project problem and technology areas, and specific projects that are of particular interest in the 4G context are highlighted. The paper concludes with an outlook on future mobile research priorities.

Case explains how female leaders are more concerned about social issues the industry in which they operate could resolve. Obo-Nia, CEO of Vodafone Ghana, showed concern for resolving the digital divide in Africa and offered a collaborative solution. The case also suggests how female CEOs invest in strategic corporate social responsibility (CSR) that could create a competitive advantage for firms. The case also discusses gender diversity issues in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) field and how Vodafone Ghana’s CEO tried to enhance gender diversity in the telecommunication sector and Vodafone. Obo-Nai did not emphasize gender diversity from a CSR perspective but believed in a business case for gender diversity, as an increase in participation of women in the STEM workforce could help the telecommunication sector innovate faster and resolve the digital divide challenge while also empowering women working from the informal sector.

What is the significance of a digital divide and the societal role of the telecommunication sector; Why female CEOs are more concerned about CSR and how CSR makes not charity but business case; Why female CEOs are more inclined toward collaborative strategies and how stakeholders are involved in collaborative strategies for reducing the digital divide; Exploring various strategies for enhancing gender diversity in the STEM field and the significance of gender diversity in the STEM field.

The case is about the challenges faced by Patricia Obo-Nai, the first female CEO of Vodafone Ghana, to bridge the digital divide in Africa while doing so in a profitable manner. Obo-Nai was an engineer by profession and won several awards as she rose to the post of CEO in Vodafone Ghana in 2019. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she took several corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives, such as making internet service freely available in certain schools and universities so that education could continue. Obo-Nai also emphasized gender diversity within Vodafone and urged other telecommunication players to focus on gender diversity from a social responsibility perspective because it was essential for innovation. Under Obo-Nai’s leadership, Vodafone itself launched several new products. She called for a multistakeholder collaborative approach to bridge the digital divide and to make 4G internet affordable in Africa. Obo-Nai collaborated with competitors like MTN Ghana to enhance Vodafone Ghana’s roaming services.

This case is intended for undergraduate or graduate-level business and management courses, especially international business and society, CSR and leadership courses. Graduate students in public policy may also find the case compelling.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CCS5: International Business; CCS10: Public Sector Management

The purpose of this paper is to examine in a fully up-to-date manner the position in respect of the licensing and launch of long-term evolution (LTE) (4G) in a region that attracts relatively little attention in academic work and the media. The purpose is also to examine the role of incumbency and to assess to what extent the licensing of LTE can make a difference to the structure of mobile markets in the region.

The first step has been to compile extensive databases with respect to the licensing and launch of high-speed networks in the region, arranged so as to emphasize the position of the dominant incumbents. A distinction is drawn between the larger, mainly Latin American, countries and the smaller, mainly Caribbean, islands. There is a discussion of new entry and its potential to disrupt incumbents.

The position of dominance held by two operators – América Móvil and Telefonica in the larger countries and by Digicel and Cable & Wireless Communications (Liberty Global) in the islands – is brought to the fore, and the analysis demonstrates that this is unlikely to be more than marginally affected by regulatory attempts to restructure markets by, for example, fostering new entry.

This is necessarily an overview paper as more than 50 countries/islands are covered, so detailed individual country studies are precluded.

The way forward, such as it is, can only be illuminated by first clarifying the current state of play.

The databases that underpin the analysis are author-compiled and entirely original.

RF transceiver module is considered a vital part of any wireless communication system. This module consists of two important parts the RF transceiver and analog-to-digital converter (ADC). Usually, both these parts – RF transceiver and ADC – are used to enhance the perspective of size and power. The data processing in 4G communication makes hurdles and need research attention to make it faster and smaller in size. Accuracy and fast processing are the critical challenges in the modern communication system.

After theoretical and practical investigations, this research work proposes key new techniques for the RF transceiver module. These techniques will make RF transceiver small, power-efficient and on the other hand, make dual SAR-ADC more effective as well. The proposed design has no intermediate frequency where the RF transceiver is reduced its major blocks from five to four, which includes crystal oscillator, phase lock loop, power amplifier and low noise amplifier. Moreover, the shared circuitry is introduced in the architecture of the SAR-ADC for the production of dual outputs, specifically in bootstrapped switch and comparator.

The miniaturized RF transceiver and SAR-ADC are well tested separately before the plantation on the printed circuit board (PCB). The operating voltage and frequency of the RF transceiver module are 1.2 V and 5.8 GHz, where the sampling rate, bandwidth and output power are 25 MHz, 200 MHz and 5 dBm, respectively. The core area of the PCB is 58.13 mm². The bandwidth efficiency is 93% using surface acoustic wave less transmitter. The circuit is based on the library of 90 nm CMOS technology.

The entire circuit is highly synchronized with the input and reference clocks to avoid self-interference.

This paper aims to investigate whether new entry via mobile licensing in Europe has had any longer-term consequences for competition.

A database is presented covering certain recent periods and the issue of licences for the provision of 2G, 3G and 4G mobile services.

It would appear that new entry has had very little overall effect on competition, although Hutchison Whampoa has, almost uniquely, forced a response from incumbents via a strategy of low prices, albeit without gaining significant market share at their expense.

Interpretation of databases cannot by its very nature be entirely free from ambiguity.

In practice, given that very few 4G (long-term evolution) licence regulations have reserved spectrum for new entrants, it may be presumed that most regulators in European countries have already observed that such new entry as is likely to be attracted will take the form of poorly funded companies from outside the mobile sector rather than incumbents from other countries.

Choice of incumbent network is being reduced, although mobile virtual network operators remain active. The implications for prices and service quality are for now a matter of debate.

The databases underpinning this analysis are not available from other sources in the private or public domain in the form presented in this paper.

This paper aims to identify the sources of innovation in the current business environment of China. With the set target of transforming China into an innovative society by 2020, the Chinese government has taken dramatic measures to foster the nation’s innovation capability. Whether this Chinese model of promoting innovation has been successful and can be sustainable are controversial issues which need to be analyzed from an academic perspective. In recent years, there have been successful cases of innovation driven by grassroots entrepreneurs, especially in the information and communications technology (ICT) industry. Therefore, it is time to analyze their success factors from the perspectives of both corporate strategy and government policy.

The methodology used in this research is a comparative case analysis, and several high-profile cases in China’s ICT industry have been selected for this comparative study. Information used in the analysis comes from publicly available sources such as business school case studies and industry and news media reports. The authors have been following the evolution of China’s ICT industry for more than a decade; insights from their prior research and knowledge gained through industry contacts are also used in the analysis.

Generally speaking, the types of innovation in China’s ICT industry can be categorized into a top-down or a bottom-up approach. For the top-down approach of innovation driven by the government, the authors analyzed the case of the Chinese government’s effort to build an industry value chain through fostering the Chinese indigenous third-generation mobile communications standard time division–synchronous code division multiple access. In comparison, the authors use several success cases, including the ecosystem built around the highly successful XiaoMi mobile phone and Tencent’s mobile portal WeChat, as it showcases of the bottom-up approach of innovation driven by grassroots entrepreneurship. The comparison of these two approaches suggests that massive government-sponsored projects are unlikely to generate genuine innovation in the highly competitive and dynamic ICT sector. The government’s role should be to foster entrepreneurship and to create a fair business environment.

This research uses the method of comparative case studies to identify the source of innovation in a highly dynamic and uncertain business environment. Findings of this study shed light on the government policy toward innovation in the ICT industry and on the business firms’ strategy on innovation.

It is often stated that mobile wireless computing is going to be the next big technology revolution that will grip the world in the same way mobile telephones did in the 1990s. However, while the technology is rapidly improving, the rate of uptake has been lower than expected. This paper describes some of the reasons for this, and discusses some of the proposed solutions.