Mobile Internet Access Service Research Articles

Development of internet measurement principles for representation of measured provision of service (QoS-2)

ABSTRACT In modern world, technology plays a significant role. Upcoming services, demanding a specific level of service quality that should be guaranteed no matter what, will impose obligations to network performance and capacity. European strategy for broadband development prescribes a set of quality indicators that networks should correspond. But imposed obligations themselves don’t guarantee the persistent level of quality. European initiatives of geographical mapping of broadband access, which are developed in order to monitor the development of internet access services, propose guidance for gathering and representation of estimated QoS parameters at the so-called QoS-1 level, whereas monitoring of actual network performance on QoS-2 level and representation of real and objective internet quality indicators rests undefined. Besides ensuring that quality is described in meaningful and comparable manner the general measurement methodology that suits various purposes should be established. This research is aimed to develop principles of monitoring and objective representation of internet access service quality parameters in specific location on QoS-2 level, as well as to establish joint mechanism to obtain the quality of service data that would be appropriate for different needs. This research is directed to the mobile internet access service.

A fresh look at zero-rating

We provide an economic assessment of zero-rating offers in the context of mobile internet access services and draw six lessons: (1) Zero-rating can have several different characteristics that crucially affect their economic and welfare assessment. Thus, regulatory interventions must be based on a careful case-by-case analysis. (2) In the context of zero-rating offers, it is often crucial to evaluate the extent to which users are able to activate and deactivate a (throttled) zero-rated tariff option. If activation/deactivation is easy and instantaneous, a sound economic theory of harm for consumers will in many cases be hard to establish. (3) Similarly, if access to zero-rated partner programs is non-discriminatory and entails low barriers to entry, a sound theory of harm for content providers will usually not be given. (4) Zero-rating can be beneficial for consumers and (legal) content providers alike by contributing to a reduction of illegal content. Combined with throttling it can mitigate congestion problems. However, by requiring all content belonging to the same content category to be treated equally with respect to throttling, independent of whether a content provider opted for zero-rating or not, the existing regulation creates a negative externality on those content providers that do not wish to be zero-rated for some reason. (5) Particular attention should be paid to the impact of throttled zero-rating tariffs on the competition between mobile network operators (MNOs) and MVNOs. The latter may not be able to compete on equal footing with MNOs, because they benefit less from the traffic management aspects of zero-rating. (6) Competition among (infrastructure-based) ISPs provides a safeguard against severe rent extraction and, thus, an abuse of throttling and zero-rating as an exploitative device. Therefore, regulators should carefully account for the competitive environment and the existing tariff portfolio and options before deciding to intervene. Competition policy, rather than ex-ante regulation, may be more suitable for this task.

Mathematical Algorithm for Processing Measurement Results of Internet Access Service in the Scope of Net Neutrality

Abstract Since Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 of the European Parliament and of the Council came into force, Internet service providers have to fulfill various additional requirements in order to guarantee access to the open internet and provide transparent information to the end-users. Of the utmost importance is to ensure achievable, meaningful and comparable results of the internet quality indicators, particularly upload and download speed values. Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 stipulates that specific speeds should be indicated in the contracts: for fixed internet access service those are maximum, minimum, normally available and advertised speed and for mobile internet access service – estimated maximum and advertised speed. However, there are no common methods put in place to calculate required speed indicators that can lead to a large amount of noncomparable and unreviewable information and create difficulties for internet providers to describe quality indicators. Within the framework of the present research, a mathematical estimation algorithm has been elaborated and applied in order to ensure that required quality parameters are represented objectively and that they are intercomparable among different internet service providers. Unified calculation principle would foster end-user awareness of the meaning of quality indicators and also of the quality of received internet services. It would also facilitate the indication of the required information for internet service providers.

Zero-rating arrangements of mobile Internet access service providers – An analysis of main factors shaping the need for regulatory interventions

Zero-rating is the practice of providers of radio-based Internet access for moving telecommunication devices of excluding traffic generated by specific online applications from usage counted towards capped allowances or strictly metered tariffs of their end customers. Worldwide and particularly in the European Union (EU), current regulatory frameworks for zero-rating arrangements (ZRA) imply that regulators have to examine on a case-by-case basis whether they prohibit a concrete ZRA or impose restrictions. Such conditions are set because regulators believe that a ZRA runs counter to the interests of end customers or application providers or impedes effective competition between application and Internet service providers. Thus, it is necessary to clarify which case features ought to be inspected in such zero-rating assessments and which feature levels speak against or in favor of regulatory measures linked to ZRA. The present article identifies nine design features of ZRA, three characteristics of customer groups targeted by such offers and three background characteristics of the markets for Internet access services and applications which are of special importance in decisions concerning the need to regulate (to abstain from regulating) zero-rating practices of mobile network operators. The analysis shows that in many instances interests of end customers, application providers as well as of politicians seeking to promote the competitive dynamics on mobile Internet access service and application markets are best served if regulatory authorities tolerate ZRA and control for potential harmful effects after their market launch. Moreover, the study reveals that empirical research on customer reactions to ZRA is urgently required.

Mobile and fixed broadband access services substitution in Japan considering new broadband features

The new generation of mobile broadband services, such as WiMax/LTE, is now incrementally diffusing throughout Japan. If they were substitutable for a fixed broadband network, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) would no longer dominate the last mile access market. Therefore, substitutability between mobile internet access services and fixed broadband access services might be one of the most important empirical questions in the discussion on broadband access market regulations. This study empirically investigates substitutability between mobile and fixed broadband access services by using the original stated preference survey data and simulating the market shares with declining fees of mobile broadband access services. This study considers quality of service (QoS) and security factors realized under next-generation networks (NGNs) or 3.9G mobile internet access. The result reveals that if tethering, QoS, and security became available via mobile internet access, then mobile and fixed broadband access services would become highly competitive.

Exploration Into The Early Success Of I-Mode Product Launch

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: small;">In Japan, i-mode was launched in February 1999 and becomes the world’s first mobile Internet access service.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Since the launch, the product has rapidly achieved early success and continues to be the dominant force in the market, in spite of escalating challenges by late competitor-comers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>What are the key success factors of i-mode?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>This study examines which factors might be more important than the others in accounting for i-mode success.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>The study also probes into the trait of early diffusion and the perceived associative image of the product.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>In order to address the research issues noted above, this study adopts a mixed-method approach.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>First, an interview is conducted with a company representative of i-mode in order to explore conditions leading to the success of the product.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Then, a questionnaire addressing these and other possibly key conditions is administered to a sample of i-mode subscribers as respondents in Japan.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">  </span>Results demonstrate that the effective manipulation of marketing strategies, particularly the product and promotion strategies, play a pivotal role throughout the six-year period from product launch to the currently leading position of i-mode in Japan’s mobile communication market.</span></p>

Tariff-type suitability's impact on satisfaction of Mobile Internet customers in Germany

Prior literature argues that the choice of a mobile voice service tariff, which is financially non-optimal for an individual, has detrimental impacts on customer loyalty and satisfaction. Unfortunately, extant work has not yet examined the extent to which effects of tariff-type suitability on customer satisfaction hold for Mobile Internet (MI) access services. This study addresses the gap by analysing 'system-captured' tariff type and MI usage intensity data in a sample of 399 MI subscribers in Germany. For MI adopters in a use-dependent (flat) tariff scheme usage intensity was significantly negatively (positively) related to MI satisfaction. This indicates that satisfaction with MI access services is decreasing if customers overpay for their MI access because they have selected unsuitable rate plans.

A resonant development trajectory for IT deployment: lessons from Japan’s I‐mode

Under the new paradigm of an information society, Japan’s institutions did not function as effeciently as they did in an industrial society. Consequently, Japan experienced a vicious cycle between non‐elastic institutions and insufficient utilization of the potential benefits of IT. However, the deployment of i‐mobile service (NTT DoCoMo’s mobile Internet access service) in the late 1990s provided encouragement that, once potential is exploited, Japan’s institutional systems can effectively stimulate the self‐propagating behavior of IT. The deployment of i‐mode service can be attributed to resonance between IT driven self‐propagating trajectory and “an institutional spiral trajectory” initiated by non‐organizational initiatives based on learning exercise from preceding services such as message exchange, mobile phone and Internet access. While i‐mode service itself was not necessarily successful in the global deployment, it induced mobile phone driven innovation that stimulated activation of Japan’s economy in the early 2000th by playing such a role as catalysis in disseminating spillover of core technologies. This paper, on the basis of an empirical analysis of the deployment trajectory of i‐mode service, attempts to identify the structural sources that enabled the dramatic deployment of IT and subsequent inducement of mobile phone driven innovation in Japan.

Creating a firm self-propagating function for advanced innovation-oriented projects: lessons from ERP

Under the new paradigm of an information society, Japan is experiencing a vicious cycle between non-elastic institutions and insufficient utilization of the potential benefits of IT that impedes the structural change efforts of firms. In parallel with this, the advanced innovation-oriented projects of firms are undergoing a structural change. However, a dramatic deployment of i-mode service (NTT DoCoMo’s mobile Internet access service) in the late 1990s provides encouragement that, once the potential is exploited, Japan’s institutional systems can effectively stimulate the self-propagating nature of IT through dynamic interaction with it. The advancement of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software in a co-evolutional way between convergence for vendor strength and divergence for satisfying diversified customer base demonstrates a similar expectation. This expectation relates to a business field in which the advanced innovation-oriented projects of firms under a new paradigm can be expected to develop in the process of embodying a self-propagating function. Prompted by this demonstration, this paper on the basis of a comparative empirical analysis of the interaction between a software vendor (ERP firm) and ERP customers with different business models towards creating a self-propagating structure based on a co-evolutional process between internal motivation of the vendor and external expectations raised by customers, attempts to identify key conditions essential to creating a self-propagating structure for advanced innovation-oriented projects of firms.

A substitution orbit model of competitive innovations

Successful innovation and diffusion of technology can be attributed to the identification of the orbit of emerging new technologies that complement or substitute for existing technologies. This dynamism resembles the co-evolution process in an ecosystem. In an ecosystem, in order to maintain sustainable development, the complex interplay between competition and cooperation, typically observed in predator–prey systems, create a sophisticated balance. Given that an ecosystem can be used as a masterpiece system, this sophisticated balance can provide suggestive ideas for identifying an optimal orbit of competitive innovations with complement or substitution dynamism. Prompted by such a sophisticated balance in an ecosystem, this paper analyzes the optimal orbit of competitive innovations and, on the basis of an application of Lotka-Volterra equations, it reviews substitution orbits of Japan's monochrome to color TV system, fixed telephones to cellular telephones, cellular telephones to mobile Internet access service, and analog to digital TV broadcasting. On the basis of substitution orbits analyses, it attempts to extract suggestions supportive to identifying an optimal policy option in a complex orbit leading to expected orbit. Key findings include policy options that are effective in controlling parameters for Lotka-Volterra equations leading to expected orbit.