The potential of converged mobile telecommunication services: a conjoint analysis

Abstract

PurposeFearing that their voice and SMS business will be substituted by IP‐based services from internet companies, mobile operators are developing various IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) based technologies to enable richer communication services. They reason that since the new rich communication services – such as enhanced presence, group communication and seamless switching between devices and media types within the same communication session – provide secure and more reliable services than those offered by internet companies – Skype, Whatsapp and Google+, for instance – consumers will readily appreciate their services and consequently use them. This paper seeks to address these issues.Design/methodology/approachTo validate these claims, this study analyzes the results of a conjoint survey among 82 respondents in The Netherlands, France and Spain. Are users really willing to adopt these rich communication services and, if so, do issues like reliability, privacy and security impact their decision?FindingThe results indicate that while users are most interested in “group communication” features of rich communication services, they appreciate other services like “switching devices”, “switching media during communication sessions” and “file‐sharing”. Still, for all services, reliability, security and interoperability (i.e. switching between devices) are valued as important requirements.Research limitation/implicationsThese findings contribute to the debate on platform competition, as these rich communication services are provided on the basis of the IMS platform, while competing services are offered via an internet base platform.Originality/ valueThis paper contributes to the discussion in the mobile telecommunications domain on whether and how operators can counter the threat from internet players that look to take over their voice and SMS business. Theoretically, this paper will contribute both to understanding why users intend to adopt advanced mobile services and creating insight into the consumer‐related factors that drive the war between competing service platforms.