Research Seminar on Telecommunications Business II
T-109.551 3 cr, spring 2005Lectures will be held in Computer Science building, seminar room T5 on Tuesdays at 09.15 - 12.00, starting on 25.1.2005.
The first presentation session will be held on 22.3.
NEW: Spring 2005 Seminar proceedings publication (4476 kB PDF file)
Towards the Next Wave of Mobile CommunicationTheme of the seminar
The course is especially designed for students taking Telecommunications Management for their major or minor (or postgraduate students), but is as well suitable for students that will like to develop their techno-economic analyzing skills in the telecommunications area. The course also provides an opportunity to rehearse scientific writing and presentation skills before writing and presenting the Master's thesis.
The goal of the spring 2005 seminar is to investigate the challenges service providers face when updating their network infrastructure to offer new mobile data services taking into consideration both business and fast developing technology requirements and possibilities. Several different wireless technologies are emerging, the success of which is unclear due to market dynamics, technology development and risks related to both. One major challenge is to move from a technology-oriented to a business/service-oriented approach.
Graduating the course
Enrollment beforehand is required. Enrollment must be done before 21.1. by email to the seminar chairman sakari.luukkainen@hut.fi. With the enrollment, the student should send his/her name, student number, and the four most favorable research topics for the presentation. The preliminary names and descriptions of the topics can be found below. All students should attend to the introduction session on 25.1.2005 in T5 (CS Building) at 9:15.
The credit amount of the course is 3 cr. The 3 cr requires active participation in the seminars (5/7 seminars, including the starting session and presentation sessions on in weeks 12-17), holding a presentation (about 30 min), making a related research report (4-6 pages, max. 3500 words) and acting as an opponent to a presentation, all in English. Here is the format required for the research report and here is an example report (although the subject of the example is from a somewhat different field). The presentation and report must be done alone. The achievements will be evaluated with scale 0-5.
Making the Presentation and the Report
Final topics of the studies will be assigned to each student on the introduction session (25.1.). The name of the study can be selected individually, but the content should cover at least those issues described later on this page. Own topics related to the course theme are also possible, in which case a brief description of the selected topic should be included in the enrollment email.
The report and presentation slides should be emailed to the personal opponent as well as to the assistant of the seminar Eino Kivisaari (eino.kivisaari@hut.fi) at latest four days before the verbal presentation. Links to the reports will be put on the table below before each verbal presentation. In addition to the opponent's comments, feedback is also given by the seminar organizers after each presentation session. The reports will be published together in a seminar proceedings booklet (TML publication series).
Timetable and Content of the Seminar Sessions
Topic Speaker Opponent Slides 25.1. Introduction Session Sakari Luukkainen Intro slides 22.3. Mobile Market in Finland Sauli Kamppari Maikku Sarvas slides 22.3. UMTS Substitutes Petri Noponen Alexei Semenov slides 5.4. Maikku Sarvas Raili Koivisto slides 5.4. Toni Paila Eino Kivisaari 5.4. RFID Applications Mikko Jalasto Petri Noponen 12.4. M2M Applications Renjish Kaleelazhicathu Janne Janhunen 12.4. Push-to-Talk over Cellular (PoC) Raili Koivisto Markus Kalliola slides 12.4. Markus Kalliola Tommy Back slides 19.4. Mobile Terminal OS Competition Tommy Back Mikko Jalasto 19.4. Mobile Music Elina Vartiainen ALL slides 19.4. Alexei Semenov Marcin Matuszewski slides 26.4. Mobile P2P Marcin Matuszewski Kimmo Palletvuori 26.4. DVB-H Business in Finland Eino Kivisaari Anders Rotkirch 26.4. Mobile VoIP Anders Rotkirch Sauli Kamppari slides 26.4. Incumbent Operator Strategies Kimmo Palletvuori Renjish Kaleelazhicathu slides
Research Topic Descriptions
Mobile Market in Finland
Finnish mobile voice market has traditionally been characterized very advanced by anticipating development in other regions. Many services have been launched first in the world by Finnish operators. The mobile voice market has however entered into a mature phase, which is characterized by intensive price competition. Operators are developing new marketing schemes for price competition as well as new differentiated data services in order to maintain profitability. The aim of this study is to describe in general level current Finnish market characteristics.
The study should cover following issues:
- General description of the current market characteristics: players, market segments, sizes and shares, revenues per subscriber etc.
- Forecasts of Finnish market development
- Competition strategy of operators
- New revenue sources evaluated by operators
UMTS Substitutes / Own topic
Mobile Solutions in Business Processes
Mobile data access to corporate information systems gives new opportunities to increase the efficiency of business processes. New ICT solutions do not, however, bring business benefits automatically. The goal of this study is both to describe what new applications mobile access to corporate information systems enables and to evaluate business benefits of such services for the end user organizations. The study can be mostly literature based but should include a description of one actual business case in some company using mobile data services.
M2M Applications
A promising application field for cellular data services is M2M (machine-to-machine) applications. According to some analysts this field may be one of the biggest growing sectors in mobile operators’ business in the near future, McKinsey estimating the overall value of M2M telecommunications to grow to 100 billion dollars by 2010. A novel and sizeable domestic example is the TeliaSonera-Vattenfall case, where electricity consumption figures are—instead of estimate billing—transmitted over cellular network using a gsm-equipped electricity meter. In two years, up to 360 000 units will be installed, and due to the large volume of service the price for cellular communications is attractive for Vattenfall. Analyze the possible services and market segments of M2M mobile data business, describe the Vattenfall case and the technology framework in question, and analyze the future prospects of M2M business and its significance to mobile operators.
RFID Applications
RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) capability in a mobile phone enables new applications and services. A typical RFID solution contains a tag and reader. The reader in the phone transmits a short-range radio signal which activates the tag and enables the data on the tag to be read. Each tag contains a number that the phone connects with activation of a service e.g. messaging or browsing. Describe the most important mobile RFID application scenarios giving emphasis both on related technology as well as business aspects. Present the current trends in the area as well as the future prospects.
Mobile Broadcasting / Own Topic
Push-to-Talk over Cellular
Push to talk over Cellular (PoC) has gained substantial interest in the recent months. Traditional push to talk (PTT) service has been available for decades but only recently new specifications and technical innovations based on Internet Protocols which utilize standard cellular packet data bearers have been introduced. This new approach not only makes it possible for Push to Talk to evolve from a dedicated system to a standard service on any cellular network but in the best case it provides a way forward to make future IP based multimedia services to inter-work globally, regardless of the air interface standard. Standardization effort for Push to talk over Cellular is still in a fast development phase but the basic characteristics and capabilities of PoC are already visible. Some key technology and business selections are to be made in the near future. These decisions will position the Push to talk over Cellular either as a new mainstream service or as a yet another unpopular service in the cellular networks. Analyze strategic actions related to standardization, vendor product strategy, substitutes, regulation and service provision in order to achieve successful service diffusion for PoC.
Mobile Payments
Mobile payments have received a lot of media visibility during the last years, and many services have been launched. However, the actual success and everyday usage statistics of those services have been disappointing. The mobile payment business has several service paradigms: the payments can be included in the user’s mobile phone bill or a separate “mobile wallet” can be used, where the user makes deposits and withdrawals on a mobile money account governed by the mobile operator. Another solution makes use of the mobile phone only as a digital identifier, which is then used to access a digital bank account probably governed by a financial institution rather than the mobile operator. Describe the most important mobile payment service cases from the last years giving emphasis on the business models but also describe the key technologies used. Present the current trends in the area as well as the future prospects.
Mobile Terminal OS Competition
Operation system is the most strategic part of smart high end mobile phones. The right decisions related operation system can lead to innovative applications, which enable to increased revenue and differentiation opportunities for mobile operators.
The study should cover following issues:
- Comparison of the key features of different operation systems
- Current market shares of mobile operation systems
- Vendors competition strategies
- New mobile services enabled by smart phones
- Operators support for OS
Mobile GamesMobile terminal manufacturers have lately invested big amounts into gaming business, and especially gaming in the context of mobile networks. Playing a big role in current terminal differentiation strategies, mobile gaming has also an impact to other companies such as game developers as potential subcontractors.
The main goal of this presentation is to study the convergence of gaming and mobile terminals and networks. What added gaming value comes with the cellular network, how can operators leverage it? What factors favor embedding game functionality into mobile terminals? Compare the business models related to purchase-and-download mobile games, on the other hand, and platforms with separately sold game cartridges and more advanced gaming capabilities, on the other.
Mobile P2P / Own