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The purpose of the paper is to define the best deployment alternatives for a public protection and disaster relief (PPDR) mobile network service – the implementation alternatives being either a dedicated network, a commercial network or a hybrid of the two network types. The selection criteria are based on the social benefits that the PPDR mobile service is expected to bring to society. The critical parameters are population density and service availability, which both directly relate to the socioeconomic benefits achieved by providing broadband (BB) mobile services in various demographic areas.

A causal loop model has been developed to define the socioeconomic benefits of the PPDR network, the parameters being population density, service availability, socioeconomic value of the service and the costs of the network. The network solution alternatives are studied using the Finnish PPDR network as a reference – analysing various areas of the country with differing population densities from remote, rural and more densely populated suburban and urban areas.

Socioeconomic value is a common measure for assessing the value of governmental investments; population density has a strong impact on the optimum deployment alternatives as the socioeconomic value is directly proportional to this variable. The flat nationwide fee of the mobile users means that the users are subsidised in sparsely populated areas – and overcharged in densely populated areas. This is the main reason why the commercial network seems to be most feasible in rural areas, whereas the dedicated network works best in urban areas. Based on the case study, the commercial network is most preferable up to the point when the population density reaches 50-125 persons/km². After that point, the dedicated network becomes more appropriate. Proposals are being made to improve the availability of the commercial networks enabling them to serve as a PPDR network: ensuring priority functionality and a protected power supply; allowing PPDR subscribers the exclusive use of one of the 700 MHz spectrum bands in restricted, critical areas; and extending use of the existing narrowband PPDR network in areas where communication availability is crucial.

On the one hand, the financing of BB PPDR mobile networks is an unresolved issue in many countries. On the other hand, the ability of commercial BB networks to provide better quality of service is improving, making viable the alternative to subscribe for radio service from a commercial operator. Therefore, the feasibility study on how to provide an optimum mobile BB service for PPDR organisations is of real value at this time.

This paper models the cost efficiency of service function chaining (SFC) in software-defined LTE networks and compares it with traditional LTE networks.

Both the capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operational expenditure (OPEX) of the SFC are quantified using an average Finnish mobile network in 2015 as a reference. The modeling inputs are gathered through semi-structured interviews with Finnish mobile network operators (MNO) and network infrastructure vendors operating in the Finnish market.

The modeling shows that software-defined networking (SDN) can reduce SFC-related CAPEX and OPEX significantly for an average Finnish MNO in 2015. The analysis on different types of MNOs implies that a MNO without deep packet inspection sees the biggest cost savings compared to other MNO types.

Service function investments typically amount to 5-20 per cent of the overall MNO network investments, and savings in SFC may impact highly on the cost structure of a MNO. In addition, SFC acts as both a business interface, which connects the local MNOs with global internet service providers, and as a technical interface, where the 3GPP and IETF standards meet. Thus, the cost efficient operation of SFC may bring competitive advantages to the MNO.

The results show solid basis of network-related cost savings in SFC and contributes to MNOs making cost conscious investment decisions. In addition, the results act as a baseline scenario for further studies that combine SDN with virtualization to re-optimize network service functions.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze the key uncertainties and to construct alternative future scenarios for Internet content delivery. The relative positions and roles of different actors and content delivery technologies in each scenario are then discussed. As traffic volume rapidly grows, the current Internet architecture faces scalability issues. To meet the demand, technical solutions utilizing caching and name-based routing are developed.

This work followed a scenario planning process, and two workshops were organized for identifying the key trends and uncertainties. Industry architecture notation was used to systematically illustrate and compare the constructed scenarios.

Of the 94 forces identified, the revenue model and Internet service provider's (ISP’s) role in content provision were singled out as the two most important uncertainties, upon which four scenarios were constructed. In-network caching technologies are strong candidates in ISP-dominated scenarios. Content delivery networks are more likely outcomes in scenarios, where content providers’ role is significant.

The paper focuses on qualitative analysis of scenarios. Utilizing, for instance, system dynamics to model interdependencies between the trends and uncertainties could provide a path toward quantitative analysis.

The paper increases understanding of relative positions and roles of different actors and technologies in possible future scenarios. The findings are important, especially for ISPs, content providers and technology vendors. The scenarios can be used to identify desirable futures and strategies to achieve them and to make informed choices in technology design to meet the demands of key actors.

The purpose of this paper is to carry out a techno‐economic evaluation of the business prospects of Free Space Optical (FSO) technology as an alternative last mile solution

The analysis is based on the results from the TONIC tool that takes into account parameters such as network topology, area characteristics, service demand, price evolution forecasting and calculates several economic figures‐of‐merits. Furthermore in order to analyze market and technologies uncertainties a thorough risk analysis has been performed

The results reveal that FSO technology could provide a viable alternative in cases where the existing duct availability is limited especially compared to the Fiber‐to‐the‐Home (FFTH) solutions.

This paper studies two alternative last mile broadband technologies FSO and FTTH

The purpose of the article is to demonstrate the viablity of a handset‐based research platform in measuring mobile service and application usage through various descriptive empirical studies.

A handset‐based research platform was used in measuring mobile usage in an international panel consisting of more than 500 mobile subscribers. The panel took place in 2005‐2006.

The research paper finds various interesting data points which cannot be derived with any other method. In addition, the paper finds that there are significant differences in certain mobile service and application use cases between different demographic groups.

The main research limitations are the size of the sample and lack of clear business implications. The main idea of the paper was just to demonstrate the type of measurements and studies that can be done with the developed research platform.

3G technology drives packet data usage and 3rd party application usage in smartphones is very promising. Handset‐based research platform can and should be used in the future in various empirical studies on the mobile telecommunication market

A handset‐based research platform has never before been utilized in doing market research, and therefore the process and results discussed in this paper are pioneering ones.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the suitability of the real option methods in the valuation of WiMAX networks. Particularly, the shapes of the probability distributions for the investment costs and net present values (NPV) are examined.

The study analyzes the costs and NPV distributions by simulating an investment project in a rural area. The paper examines the influences of different uncertainty models and the shapes of the resulting investment costs, NPVs, and NPV ratios. The simulated option values are compared to results from different analytical equations.

The analysis in this study shows that the shape of the uncertainty – or error – in the parameters does not affect the shapes of the investment costs or NPV distribution. Instead, the subject of the uncertainty – i.e. the parameters for which the uncertainty is modeled – matters.

The study shows that the uncertainties and opportunities in network investments may increase the value of the projects dramatically and thus they should be taken into account. The shape of the NPV distribution varies depending on the technology and construction strategy of the network. This makes the real option valuation challenging since the assumptions of the valuation models must be satisfied for reliable results. Analytical option valuation formulas give the same results as simulation, only if the assumptions are sufficiently fulfilled and the parameters properly estimated.

The uncertainty in the service rate growth or population growth parameter influences the resulting distributions. The investment costs are positively skewed and can be approximated by a log‐normal distribution. This makes NPV negatively skewed, which suits badly in the existing analytical option valuation methods assuming log‐normal assets. Also, the NPV ratio is correlated with the investment costs.

The purpose of this paper is to create a global view of consumer spending, taking into account income and rural population density in countries where mobile communications is still in the growth phase.

To gain a view of the applicable demographic conditions, information in four different databases was analyzed. Gross domestic product (GDP) formation was studied per geographic area within rural population. A short case study on South Africa is also included to provide detail on how communications penetration can increase rapidly in a favorable environment.

Communications seems to be a necessity once relative spending increases towards the lower income segments of world population. It is assumed that where people live in arable land the population densities in many low income countries are very high. When different spending patterns were analyzed it became clear that mobile communications gain most notably from travel‐related expenditure.

The findings in this study are general, which opens a large field for further studies in each country; to analyze how social, economic and political development occur when mobile communications become more popular.

This study should help operators in different countries plan their investments better. It may also well be that future innovations for mobile communication and information access emerge from growth countries.

Only few public papers have approached this topic in the past. More detailed studies and analysis will remain to be performed for scientists and practitioners.

The purpose of this paper is to show that fixed‐mobile convergence (FMC) has gathered much interest in the telecommunications industry lately. Integrated operators (who own both fixed and mobile networks), are keen to exploit FMC benefits in order to save costs and generate new revenues. This paper aims to analyze the effects of converged network and service environment on the business of existing telecommunication operators.

After an introduction to the regulatory, market, and technology related issues of convergence, the authors focus on analyzing the role of FMC technologies and services in their businesses of an integrated operator with existing fixed and mobile operations in a large Western European country.

Results reveal that an integrated operator can benefit from cost savings, customer retention and prevent revenue erosion by migrating to FMC.

This paper examines the effects of fixed‐mobile convergence to an integrated operator.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether and how bundling services may achieve leverage of market power from the telco's home to a secondary service market (e.g. video broadcasting). Despite digital convergence, in many countries the former telco monopolist remains to hold significant market power in its home market for telecommunication services.

To this extent the author considers a formal game‐theoretic model where the telco firm holds a monopoly in the market for telecommunications services, while competing with a cable firm in the market for video broadcasting services. Services may differ in quality. For the firms, the provision of high‐quality services is more costly than the provision of low‐quality services. Conversely, consumers have a greater reservation price for higher service qualities. Therefore firms face a trade off between revenues and cost when selecting the optimal service quality.

The model shows that the telco firm can achieve market power leverage by bundling its services, which therefore is more profitable than offering each service separately. In particular, the quality leverage mechanism is highlighted, which reveals that bundling alters the optimal service quality choice of the competitors favorably.

Like every game‐theoretic model, the present model rests on formal assumptions representing stylized facts. Future research should determine these by empirical evidence.

The paper reveals how bundling may be employed as a strategic weapon in order to increase profits in the converging communications market.

The paper shows that bundling communications services can not only have significant ramifications for the quality of these services, but also for the competition in industry.