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This paper investigates the main trends and uncertainties that will define fourth generation mobile systems and services (4G) in Europe. It outlines two divergent visions on 4G: the so‐called “immediate” 4G vision, consisting of wireless local area networks (WLANs) combined with other wireless access technologies, competing with 3G in the short term, and the so‐called “linear” 4G vision, in which the 3G standard is not replaced until the end of its life cycle by an ultra‐high speed broadband wireless network. Which of these visions will materialise, and what this means for the competitiveness of the main 4G stakeholders in Europe, will be to a large extent determined by which business models are feasible for 4G.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that telecommunications liberalization in Europe has taken the European telecommunications and internet sectors a breathtaking leap forward. To counter the leveling off of growth and facing the smartphone revolution, new structural changes are now required.

The paper assesses in a concise manner the effect of telecommunications liberalization in Europe based on the 1987 green paper. It demonstrates the enormous dynamics created in the mobile and fixed network sectors and the key role of liberalization to make Europe internet‐ready during the 1990s. The paper then proceeds to the analysis of the leveling off of growth during the last few years and discusses required changes to restart dynamics.

The green paper of 1987 successfully defined a framework within which political and legal action in both regulatory and competition fields could develop, leading to full liberalization of telecommunications in the European Union by 1998. The subsequent decade saw an enormous expansion of both mobile and fixed services, which only abated by the end of the decade. Liberalization and coordination of licensing of mobile systems were the basis for the entry of the internet in Europe and the explosive growth of GSM mobile services. The paper finds that the deployment of broadband internet and fourth generation mobile now needs further change to relaunch dynamics. It welcomes the goals of the digital agenda for Europe in the context of the 2020 objectives of the European Union, but argues that deeper structural changes are needed to achieve these goals.

Liberalization of European telecommunications was guided by a strategic framework set out in the 1987 telecommunications green paper and developed subsequently further. Comprehensive frameworks of this nature will be needed if Europe wants to gain a leading role in the future smart phone and broadband internet markets.

Information and communication technology (ICT) is increasingly being used in the home environment, making it a very important and interesting research topic for communication scientists. Future developments will influence the way and the extent to which ICT will be used in the home environment and therefore the way people look for information, communicate, make use of entertainment services and carry out transactions. However, it is still very difficult to make meaningful and accurate forecasts with regard to the possible future use and acceptance of ICT in people’s homes. Important reasons are, for example, that more and more market parties are involved in the development of innovative ICT products and services. This makes developments more complex and the outcomes more uncertain. Furthermore, consumers play an important role in the development of new ICT‐based information, communication, transaction and entertainment services. Since a precise prediction of the possible use of ICT in domestic environments in 2010 is hard to make, other methods of futures research must be used. Combining technological forecasting with scenario thinking is such a research method, whereon, technological forecasting shows the major trends in the specific technology domain, while scenarios cover the possible future worlds. By giving end‐users a central place in these scenarios, the diversity of the use and acceptance of innovative products and services is captured. Thus, the addition of scenarios to the technology trends gives insight into the possibilities (and impossibilities) of new ICT‐technologies and the way they may be used in the home environment.

So far fourth generation (4G) has not been well defined technically, functionally or commercially despite conceptual research having been quietly under way since 1998. But as we have not fully rolled out and digested 2.5G, let alone 3G, why on earth should we be interested in a still further mobile technology? And how will WiFi, WiMAX and existing networks figure in all of this? The answer is that 4G will fundamentally advance the way we use mobile and existing networks and repair the problems of 3G. If allowed to, 4G can take us from radio technologies and concepts of the 1920s into the next era of radio communications using “open spectrum”. And 4G may be able to answer many cost and technical problems of the earlier mobile systems. Once its technical blueprint is worked out, 4G faces enormous challenges, far more than the technical, in commercial/political battles with what it could replace. We examine its challenges here, also considering regulatory policy, which would require that the mobile element is seen as only one of at least six components. The different scenarios for its early development are also briefly reviewed.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the technological, licensing and strategic implications of the move to the fourth generation of mobile telecommunications

An initial section provides an analysis of what is meant by fourth generation mobile telecommunications based upon a new taxonomy. This is followed by an overview of all countries where Long Term Evolution is being, or has been, introduced, introducing multiple case studies to illustrate the variety of approaches adopted. After a subsequent summary of what is happening in respect of WiMAX, the paper concludes with an assessment of the prospects for fourth generation technology.

One key finding is that what is commonly understood to be fourth generation technology is in practice 3.9G rather than 4G. Another is that “true 4G” is shortly to be ratified and will gradually be introduced over the next few years, but that it will be used in different ways by different operators in different countries.

Some data for the case studies is hard to establish with certainty.

Very fast mobile networks are already a reality. Ultra‐fast networks will soon appear but only in limited places. Most customers will not notice the difference.

Things that are already easy and quick to download on a mobile device will become even easier and quicker to download. Whether this will matter much is a moot point.

The taxonomy of mobile technology is the only one available in the public sector.

Mobile phone network third-generation (3G) and fourth-generation (4G) modes are the most commonly used modes in many developing countries. This study aims to assess the impact of these network modes and other mobile phone attributes on their retail prices in Pakistan, the fifth most populous and developing country.

This study has been conducted in Punjab province, which shares about 53% of the Pakistan’s population. Hedonic price analysis was carried out on all new mobile phone attributes sold in Punjab’s markets at the retail level. Various econometric tests, that is, Ramsey regression equation specification error, Breusch–Pagan/Cook–Weisberg and variance inflation factor, were calculated to check the robustness of the results.

Results of this study indicated that the mobile phone prices were significantly higher for the sets having 4G network mode than the 3G mode. In addition to this, other mobile phone attributes that significantly influenced their prices were brand, weight, camera, random access memory (RAM), memory size, operating system, battery capacity and display size.

This study has implications for mobile phone sales and marketing strategies of the manufacturers, importers, retailers and others involved in the mobile phone business in developing countries like Pakistan. Mobile phone manufacturers/importers can increase their profits by producing/importing the 4G enabled devices.

Although many studies in the literature estimated the implicit price of mobile phone attributes, none of these had explicitly assessed the impact of network mode generation of mobile phones on their prices.

Outlines the development of third‐generation (3G) mobile networks. Addresses the issues of licence methodology (allocation of licences). Concludes that WAP phones are likely to end up as a low‐margin basic product superseded by GPRs, thereby resolving the bandwidth problem.

This paper aims to provide an in-depth analysis of the process of standards setting based on the case of long-term evolution time division duplex (LTE TDD) deployment in China.

Using actor-network theory (ANT) as a theoretical framework, multi-level analyses are presented to explain the process of adoption of LTE TDD at a global level.

Findings identified the complex interaction between the social and technical aspects of fourth-generation (4G) by highlighting the co-evolving nature, diversity and interface that constitute the next-generation network environment.

ANT provides a framework of ideas for describing the process of technology adoption and for developing stories that explain it.

The findings shed light on a critical insight of the interrelationships between TD-SCDMA and LTE TDD and identify the policy successes and failures of 4G mobile networks.

The purpose of this paper is to quantify how mobile app usage relates to the unique characteristics of behavioral orientations and content types, focussing on the interrelationship among content usage in the context of in-app purchase.

Using a large-scale data set of individual content usage in a particular music mobile app, the author builds a simultaneous equation panel data model to examine dynamic interdependent usage of mobile app.

The paper finds a positive temporal effect of self-oriented content usage (download) on other-oriented content usage (gift), based on behavioral orientation, and also a temporal interdependence between external (ringtone) and internal usage (mp3) based on types of content. The paper also finds that the fourth generation communications standard increases content usage in this mobile app.

These findings provide useful insights for mobile app developers, mobile network operators, content providers, and mobile device manufacturers.

This paper is one of the first to consider and empirically test the interrelationship between various kinds of content usage in music apps.