Towards multiservice personal communications: Perspectives for a sector structure evolution

Abstract

Future communications shall be characterized by two identity marks, a personal way of communicating and the simultaneous interchange of different information types. Multiservice (multimedia) personal communications services should be provided in an open market structure. We describe the specific requirements demanded by these services which could be found among the fixed and mobile networks services features. The provision of such services then would require certain integration of these networks which could be achieved in different ways. We present the actual conditioning factors which could affect the evolution pathway towards that market structure and then we analyse the fixed-and mobile networks' integration possibilities under different perspectives. As a result, we found that the future sector should need to operate in a collaborative way to provide such services in competence. The regulator's role should be decisive in defining the timing and the final sector structure.