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This paper aims to underscore how the digitization of content and the convergence in the telecommunications sector has prompted a wave of consolidation between telecom and content players.

Using interdisciplinary insights from competition policy and business strategy, the paper draws attention to the interplay between business model innovation and merger control in the converged telecoms sector.

Technological innovation and business model innovation led to the emergence of over-the-top (OTT) services. This innovation in turn led to two key effects, first, successful commercialization of content and the emergence of the “smart pipes” that in turn has led to the second effect, which is increased mergers and acquisitions (M&As) in the converged telecommunications sector. Emergence of OTT with big data as a key advantage challenged the strategy and business models of the more established players, such as the AT&T, Time Warner, Liberty Global and Fox, which in turn led to the current trend of M&As in the sector.

This paper makes the following key contributions to the literature on M&As between the fixed/mobile and content players. First, it elucidates how the existing market players can benefit from competition policy, such as merger remedies to enter new and related markets. Second, it advocates that the US and the European competition authorities while assessing these M&As, take due account of innovation in business models, as business model innovation not only promotes innovation in the market but also enhances consumer welfare, considering that it offers the merged firm economies of scale and scope to offer better-quality goods and services at subsidized prices.

The purpose of this paper is to present a cross-country qualitative comparative analysis of telecom regulatory frameworks of five countries with that of India. Adopting an institutionalist approach, this paper contributes to understanding of how institutional frameworks in these five countries are structured as compared to that in India so as to ensure division of the authority and scope of the regulator vis-a-vis that of the ministry, and the bureaucracy; financial autonomy of the regulator; redressal of grievances of individual consumers; and modification in the framework to cater to convergence of telecom and broadcasting.

The study is based on literature review of research papers, secondary research and documents published by the regulators of the five countries. The research methodology used is qualitative comparative analysis case-based research of five countries. The variables for comparison have been sourced from the World Bank Handbook for Evaluating Infrastructure Regulatory System. The researcher has adopted qualitative research method to bring forth the similarity, as well as the diversity in the regulatory setup of the five countries in comparison with India.

Analysis reveals that there is an absence of clear role definition for policy formulating body, the DoT and the regulatory body, the TRAI. The involvement of a number of bodies leads to duplication of regulatory functions in the TRAI, DoT and the Telecom Commission. Secondly, with respect to standards, compliance and spectrum management, the TEC and WPC function as divisions of DoT; however, the TRAI is entrusted with ensuring interoperability among service providers as well as spectrum management. This leads to duplication of regulatory functions and absence of a single authority. Lastly, funding of the TRAI is done through the departmental allocation given to DoT alone with no additional funds coming in the form of regulatory fees. This is seen to be specific to TRAI as other sector regulators in India have been empowered to collect fees from industry participants. The Indian framework shows two commonalities in comparison with the five countries; firstly, India has adopted self-regulation through the setting up of the Telco-consumer group-led consumer redressal process. The second similarity being convergence of the regulatory functions performed by the TRAI for the telecom as well as the information and broadcasting ministries, although the two ministries continue to function independently.

The paper furthers the understanding of the good practices in the design of telecom regulatory framework. It brings out the similarity and diversity in these frameworks. And, most importantly, it highlights limitations that the Indian telecom regulatory framework has in areas of role definition for the regulator, its autonomy and regulation of telecom-media convergence.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to present an up‐to‐date examination of the telecommunications industry and attempt to discover how some of the major players are engaging their customers while trying to constantly diversify their service offerings.

The paper examines, case by case, three major telecommunications companies and identifies current and future offerings as they pertain to service initiatives and customer loyalty and retention. The paper also offers a broader overview of the telecommunications industry as a whole and identifies some major trends in the current landscape.

The paper finds that companies with sound customer strategies can use this as a differentiator in an increasingly muddled market. In an increasingly competitive market, customer loyalty efforts can play a major part in the attraction of new customers and the retention of current ones. Companies must transition to offer a suite of services as “bundling” strategies proliferate and further ignite pricing wars.

Marketers dealing in the telecommunications arena are entrenched in an exciting era of industry growth. As consumers' choices expand, the importance of a sound customer relationship strategy becomes more and more important for the success of the company.

The paper provides exclusive interviews with representatives from some of the largest telecommunications firms in the industry today. It contains expert analysis and breakdown on loyalty marketing strategies that can complement telecommunications service offerings.

This study seeks to survey the current convergence of broadcasting and telecommunication, examine the policy questions that arise in Korea and present a review of current regulation in this field.

From a technical perspective, the convergence between telecommunications and broadcasting is emerging as both industries move towards digital standards. Yet, from a policy‐making perspective, convergence seems premature and may not be desirable. This study focuses in particular on the digital media broadcasting (DMB) service, which is currently being developed in Korea.

The paper suggests perspectives on forthcoming satellite DMB service developments, and the implications of this emerging technological breakthrough. The study indicates that current broadcasting‐based regulatory frameworks may tend to deter technological convergence and thus delay service introduction in the market.

The paper concludes with a new regulatory model with more consideration of service providers and users.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework that describes three contending market regimes in converging industries, and to use this framework to study clashes between different regimes and the implication they have on firms' competitive strategies. More specifically, the challenges of competitors simultaneously acting in accordance with a competitive, a cooperative, and a co‐opetitive market regime.

An exploratory case study of the interaction between firms within the IT and telecom industry is conducted.

The paper brings forward clashes between different market regimes in converging industries and six propositions are formulated. The study furthermore shows how firms respond differently to a demand‐driven convergence, some act in accordance with a competitive regime and try to exclude others whereas others act in accordance with the co‐opetitive regime and cooperate with competitors to develop new product offers.

The paper concludes that there are several challenges in transforming from a competitive to a co‐opetitive regime, and there is therefore a need to further explore the clashes observed in this study.

Few empirical studies have been conducted of the converging IT and telecom industries and this paper reveals several new insights about this market context and the challenges it provides. The paper develops a theoretical framework for an analysis of converging industries and provides an insight about clashes that develop between different market regimes. It also describes the challenges firms are facing as a result of these clashes.

The paper seeks to argue for a theoretical contribution that deals with the detection of collective learning. The aim is to examine and clarify the genesis processes of collective learning. The empirical basis is a telecoms context with task‐driven networking across both internal and external organisational borders.

The research draws upon an integration of organisational learning theory and a relational and contextual branch of experiential learning theory framed as organisational pedagogy. A case study of R&D work serves as the empirical foundation. Four teams were studied through interviews, focus groups, and observations. Data were analysed in interplay between empirical findings and theoretical concepts.

Collective learning does not only occur within the boundaries of well‐defined groups where previously identified. Characterised by distributed work processes and rapid changes in the telecom context, collective learning is associated with individual distribution of tasks, insufficiency as a foundation, a question‐and‐answer space, and the imprints of others in a shared action arena.

Conclusions concern how collective learning can be comprehended. The paper points to the importance of interaction and a shared action arena. The way in which knowledge develops is, to some extent, context‐dependent. This indicates that the characteristics of the shared action arena vary.

Differentiating learning processes has a practical significance for organisations wanting to focus upon competence issues.

This study identified the importance for collective learning of the presence of a shared action arena. The theoretical contribution fills a gap in the understanding of how collective learning arises when moving from face‐to‐face learning within local teams, to networking across both internal and external organisational borders. This contributes to the understanding of how the learning of individuals links with the learning of an organisation.

The paper aims to analyze the key structural changes required for an effective competitive new media market via digital transmission. It also aims to explain the institutional obstacles to achievement of broadband deployment in Western nations by reference to East Asia's success.

The paper identifies major trends and demonstrates evolving competition principles in the European Union media sector by discussing cases and literature in the deployment of broadband content and carriage.

The paper finds primarily that institutional barriers to reform of competition in both broadband and copyright fields create bottlenecks in any policy reform process. It goes on to consider models that have succeeded, in peer‐to‐peer content, cable and satellite television content, mobile telecommunications and East Asia, concluding that reform in fixed broadband is unlikely in the near‐term.

Policy discussion in copyright and telecommunications needs to be broadened to consider structural flaws in the institutions that govern these regimes. The paper takes a broad Northian view of institutions to encompass governance via markets, state and society in order to provide this view.

This paper aims to provide a synthesis of the evolution of the global internet markets through an assessment of their economic strength. It is an attempt to describe the various segments of the internet value chain and the evolution of the markets. It aims at briefly summing up the very dynamics of the sector, of the various subsectors while looking at the business models and the market capitalization.

The paper is a descriptive paper, presenting market trends, based on desk research and trade press. It is not meant to provide any theoretical contribution but attempting to reconstruct the views from the industry as documented by trade literature. Hence, the paper relies mostly on industry and consultancy data. The paper builds on a database collected by the author over the past 30 years and the selection of the relevant data to document and identify the trends and offer a synthesis of the views of the industry.

The paper shows how over the past 30 years the internet has changed dramatically from both a quantitative (reaching more and more users worldwide and witnessing a dramatic growth of all markets) and qualitative (offering an array of innovative products and services enabled by the deployment of new networks) and the availability of new devices. The paper reveals how each technological wave ushered in a series of innovation and new services, boosted the foundation and the growth of pioneering companies.

Taking into account the lack of official data, the industry data used should be treated as just signals of potential trends, but sufficient to give an overview of the evolution of the global internet markets. Furthermore, detailed studies should complement this descriptive approach. The approach does have obvious methodological and theoretical limits, not providing a robust methodological framework just offering a reconstruction of the trends as documented by the trade publications. However, it concludes highlighting some of the tensions and contradictions.

The paper closes with a summary of the main transformations and considers some future developments. The paper draws some lessons from some failures and from the strategies of firms.

The paper hints at the way users developed “unique” behaviors using social media, taking advantage of the new opportunities to exchange with others. The paper hints at some regulatory issues and challenges.

The paper briefly sums up the very dynamics of the global internet market(s). It attempts to characterize some of the main features of their evolution and of the main segments. If offers a comprehensive overview of available data.

ICT is everywhere, but information society policy cannot address all the sectors and policy issues in which ICT plays a role. This paper's aim is to develop an analytical framework to assist policy makers in deciding on the priorities and coordination of information society policy.

The analytical framework is based on public management literature and innovation literature. The framework can be applied to individual ICT issues – when to lead, advise, explore or refrain from policy intervention. The framework consists of seven questions, including the rationale for intervention, stakeholders, the mandate of fellow policy makers (e.g. other ministries) and the costs, benefits and risks of intervention. The framework was applied in three cases.

A leading role for information society policy is most clear for e‐skills. For services innovation, several market failures and system failures appear to be relevant. This calls for a mix of policy instruments, with roles for several ministries. Policy coordination is crucial. For ICT in health sectors – and other public sectors – the conclusion is that information society policy can take the lead on cross‐cutting ICT issues such as privacy, standardisation and interoperability.

The article addresses one of the main challenges of information society policy: how to increase its scope, yet maintain effectiveness and coherence.