Telecommunication (telecom) companies face increasingly tough times as digitization reshapes the industrial landscape. In 2012, telecom companies acknowledged that over-the-top (OTT) communication services have become the greatest threat to their revenues. OTT communication services use the internet to deliver an array of services such as voice, video calls, and messaging. Some of the most popular OTT companies are Skype, WhatsApp, WeChat, Google Hangouts, Viber, Line, etc. The continued business disruption is driving telecom companies to investigate platform-based business models as key ingredients to survival. Platform business models are the core of some of the most powerful and fastest-growing companies such as Alibaba, Uber, Airbnb, Facebook, etc. Platform businesses bring together producers and users in efficient exchanges of value. These models are known for leveraging network effects, which means the more participants on the platform, the greater the value produced. With the appearance of the 5th generation (5G) of mobile network connectivity, telecom companies need to know how they can protect themselves from being delegated by disruptors as commodity connectivity providers. In this thesis, we explored the areas where 5G can have an impact in the next five years. We used a technique developed by Professor Marshall Van Alstyne. The technique consists of plotting an interaction's perceived value versus interaction volume then selecting the area with the highest interaction of perceived value and volume. Results showed that immersive media has these characteristics. After we identified the area, we selected a platform using the concept evaluation methodology. The most feasible multi-sided platform (MSP) for the telecom industry in the next five years is a 3600 HD video platform with live and recorded long-tail content (large number of unique items with relatively small quantities). The MSP consists of four sides: users, content developers, advertisers, and software developers. Platform launch, monetization, openness and network effects strategies are proposed. Moreover, a financial analysis was performed. Results show the proposed MSP is a feasible option. Finally, a stakeholder analysis compares an existing digital platform versus our proposed platform. Results show similar behavior.

Cutting through the confusion around the nature and implications of digitalization, this book explores the rise of the new digital networks, how they affect traditional infrastructure, and how they will eventually need to be regulated. The authors examine how digitalization affects infrastructures in telecommunications, transport, and energy, and how digital platforms establish themselves as a new network on top of and in addition to traditional ones. Complex concepts are introduced through short and colorful stories about the founders of the most popular platforms (Google, Facebook, Skype, Uber, etc.) and how they grew to positions of power, drawing parallels with century-old traditional network industries’ monopoly power (AT&T, General Electric, etc.). The authors argue that these digital platforms strongly interfere with traditional infrastructures that are heavily regulated and provide essential services for society – meaning that digital platforms should be considered as a new and much more powerful type of infrastructure and will require regulation accordingly. A global audience of policy makers, public authorities, consultants, lawyers, students, and academics, as well as anyone with an interest in these digital platforms, will find this book enlightening and essential reading.

During the last decade, platform businesses such as Uber, Airbnb, Amazon and eBay have been taking over the world. In almost every sector, traditional businesses are under attack from digital disrupters that are effectively harnessing the power of communities. But what exactly is a platform business and why is it different? In Platform Strategy, Laure Claire Reillier and Benoit Reillier provide a practical guide for students, digital entrepreneurs and executives to understand what platforms are, how they work and how you can build one successfully. Using their own "rocket model" and original case studies (including Google, Apple, Amazon), they explain how designing, igniting and scaling a platform business requires learning a whole new set of management rules. Platform Strategy also offers many fascinating insights into the future of platforms, their regulation and governance, as well as how they can be combined with other business models. Benoit Reillier and Laure Claire Reillier are co-founders of Launchworks, a leading advisory firm focused on helping organizations develop and scale innovative business models.

What do Google, Snapchat, Tinder, Amazon, and Uber have in common, besides soaring market share? They're platforms - a new business model that has quietly become the only game in town, creating vast fortunes for its founders while dominating everyone's daily life. A platform, by definition, creates value by facilitating an exchange between two or more interdependent groups. So, rather that making things, they simply connect people. The Internet today is awash in platforms - Facebook is responsible for nearly 25 percent of total Web visits, and the Google platform crash in 2013 took about 40 percent of Internet traffic with it. Representing the ten most trafficked sites in the U.S., platforms are also prominent over the globe; in China, they hold the top eight spots in web traffic rankings. The advent of mobile computing and its ubiquitous connectivity have forever altered how we interact with each other, melding the digital and physical worlds and blurring distinctions between "offline" and "online." These platform giants are expanding their influence from the digital world to the whole economy. Yet, few people truly grasp the radical structural shifts of the last ten years. In Modern Monopolies, Alex Moazed and Nicholas L. Johnson tell the definitive story of what has changed, what it means for businesses today, and how managers, entrepreneurs, and business owners can adapt and thrive in this new era.

Digital technologies have allowed for the proliferation of new business models, something that has attracted the attention of academic research. Much of this research has focused on (i) understanding what a business model is and its theoretical connection to the concept of strategy, and (ii) exploring what business model innovation is and what its sources and outcomes are. Less work has gone into studying the issues that established firms face in business model innovation – such as how to respond to the arrival of a disruptive business model in one's industry, or how to compete with dual business models or how to migrate from one business model to another. This Element approaches the topic of business model innovation from the perspective of the established firm and examines the unique strategic and organizational issues that big, established companies face when a new business model enters their markets.

A business model basically describes the way a company makes money. Yet, often we use digital services for free (e.g. Facebook, Google or WhatsApp) or for what seems to be a relatively minor price (e.g. Blablacar, Airbnb, and Amazon). Digital business models are different to traditional business models. Digital Business Models explains the key challenges and characteristics of the various business models that are used by digital businesses. These companies can be a source of inspiration for traditional bricks-and-mortar companies that aim to go digital and/or revamp their traditional business model. Most businesses rely on some form of digital technology for their marketing communication, customer relationship management, supply chain or distribution, yet digital transformation entails a complete reassessment of the way value is created and captured. Digital Business Models details the successful customer acquisition tactics and the development of business ecosystems by digital players. Using the relevant academic and managerial body of knowledge, the authors define the concepts, describe the various ways digital businesses create and capture value and propose some useful tools for managers to analyse a situation, formulate or implement a strategy. Different digital business types are evaluated, such as multisided platforms, digital merchants, subscription-based model, freemium, social media and sharing economy. Each chapter is illustrated with several examples and the appendix comprises four full-length case studies.

Seminar paper from the year 2010 in the subject Economics - Micro-economics, grade: 1,7, University of Frankfurt (Main), language: English, abstract: The actual Telecoms one-sided business model is under pressure: tougher regulation, developing technology, potential new entrants, and advancing customer expectations. The traditional voice business is facing stagnating or even falling revenues and therefore in-creased voice usage is no longer sufficient to compensate for price deflation. In the current one-sided business model, the telco buys equipment and content from sup-pliers, integrates them, and bills the end user for services. This reflects the traditional value chain in which value moves from left to right. The future business model breaks the traditional value chain. Value is created on the left and on the right side of a telco. This two-sided business model delivers value to and generates revenue from 3rd party service providers as well as end-users by providing an open platform that helps the service providers to interact with end-users in more effective ways. This model enables the genera-tion of new incomes and can be the solution to escape from an environment with decreasing prices and falling revenues. The telecommunication industry promises itself enormous economic potential and tremendous added values for all participants. The aim of this paper is to show the challenges and opportunities of telecoms' journey from one-sided to two-sided business models to reach a new era of growth. Both models will be analyzed by the business model canvas of Osterwalder and Pigneur. It will show that the telecommunication industry is able to gain much more power and new revenue streams than they do today. Chapter 2 will present the theoretical foundations used in this paper for analyzing the un-derlying business models. In chapter 3 the theoretical models are adopted to examine the actual one-sided of the telecommunication industry. This includes the current economic