TKK | Networking Laboratory | Studies

S-38.3042 Seminar on Networking Business (4 ECTS) L V

Autumn 2006

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Seminar theme: Business models for wireless Internet access

New technologies and regulatory decisions are enabling new business models for wireless access to Internet. The purpose of this seminar is to better understand the dynamics and business feasibility of different scenarios. Business models driven by different stakeholders are covered including those driven by consumer, municipality, sites or operator. Participants will take a given topic and initial source material, perform a small individual literature study, and then report findings in written and oral format. The seminar papers will be published as a report in the laboratory report series.

Personnel

The autumn 2006 seminar is managed by professor Heikki Hämmäinen. Please contact the course assistant Antero Kivi for any immediate queries.

Registration

Please register via the TOPI system, or in case of trouble via e-mail.

The number of participants is limited to 20. In case of too many candidates, the first priority goes to graduate students, Telecom Management majors, and best grades. Seminar organizers will inform candidates by email in case of non-acceptance.

Course completion

Each participant shall write and present his/her own seminar paper, and act as an opponent for another seminar paper.

The author will prepare the written seminar paper (see seminar paper template) of max 5 pages, and a set of presentation slides (see presenter's template). The seminar paper must be sent to the opponent and to the course assistant at least 4 days before the presentation (Sunday at 23:59 at latest). The assistant will then forward the papers of the following session collectively to other course participants who must read all the papers to ensure lively discussion on the topic at the seminar session.

The opponent will review the seminar paper, and prepare a slide set for the review (see opponent's template). In addition, the opponent will also give oral comments on the presentation.

The author and opponent must email their presentation slides to the course assistant at least one days before the seminar session (Wednesday at 23:59 at latest).

The author revises the seminar paper based on opponent's comments and other feedback received at the seminar session. The final version of the seminar paper must be returned at latest one week after the presentation (Thursday at 23:59) to the course assistant by email in .doc or .rtf format. The email should also include a list of the modifications made to the paper.

Seminar sessions

Seminar sessions will be organized on Thursdays at 15:15-18:15 in room D302, from Sep 21 until Oct 26.

In the seminar sessions, the time is allocated for each presentation as follows:

• Presenter: 20 min
• Opponent: 10 min
• Audience: 10 min

A maximum of one absence is allowed from the seminar sessions.

Grading

Seminar consists of parts each having a minimum acceptable level of performance:

• Oral presentation (+slides)
• Written contribution (seminar paper)
• Acting as an opponent (+slides)
• Presence in sessions (max one absence allowed)
• Timely delivery of required materials

Oral presentation, written contributions, and acting as opponent are each having the same weight on the final grade of the course.

List of topics

The study topics of the seminar are listed under categories as follows. Each topic should cover the following items (when relevant, checklist):

• Related technical architectures and bottlenecks
• Related value networks and bottlecks
• Related industry scenarios and the critical controling parameters
• Key messages to seminar participants

Additional items per topic appear as a list of bullets. Seminar participants are also encouraged to propose own topics related to the categories below. Course organizers will provide participants some initial source material for each topic. However, finding other sources is vital for a good seminar paper.

Category A. Theories and frameworks
Sound concepts are needed to discuss and compare different business models.

Topic A.1 Social optimality of alternative business models

• Terminology of consumer theory
• Methods for analyzing social optimality
• Application of theory to wireless hotspots

Topic A.2 Speed of change of business models

• Adaptive, dynamic business models
• Types and instances of business models
• Application of theory to wireless hotspots

Category B. Regulatory issues
Regulator's actions influence the relative strength of business models.

Topic B1. Regulation of public WLAN services

• Status in Finland, EU, and the US
• Motivation and tools of regulators to guide business models

Topic B2. Regulation of wireless stakeholders

• Status in Finland, EU, and the US
• Special items: definition of operator, handset bundling, etc

Category C. Technology issues
Technology sets the constraints for business models.

Topic C1. Dynamic selection of optimal wireless access service

• Current market status of dynamic selection
• Technical bottlenecks of more dynamic markets

Topic C2. Options for studying behavior of mobile multiaccess users

• Available methods: surveys, measurements, ...
• Comparison of measurement points: terminal, network, servers

Category D. Facilities-driven business models
Facility actors (hotels, cafeterias, offices, etc) have an opportunity for bundling.

Topic D1. Business models based on facilities bundling: success criteria

• Classification of business models
• Examples of successes and failures, identification of success criteria

Topic D2. Alternative business models for visitors in office buildings

• Status of public WLAN provision in offices: case Finland

Category E. Municipality-driven business models
Many municipalities are getting involved in public WLAN offering to citizens.

Topic E1. Business models for municipal WLAN

• Classification of business models
• Analysis of motivations

Topic E2. Municipal WLAN: case examples in Finland

• Status of OpenSpark, PanOulu, etc
• Future outlook in Finland

Category F. Consumer-driven business models
Consumers' WLAN home base stations and mobile terminals provide an opportunity for P2P-type of wireless coverage, either in fixed hotspots or random locations (using ad hoc networks).

Topic F1. P2P-based roaming between home WLAN hotspots

• Analysis of proposed peering frameworks (and real cases, if possible)
• Business models based on trust systems

Topic F2. Using Ad Hoc networks for wireless Internet access

• Status of ad hoc networks usage in Finland
• Analysis of proposed concepts

Category G. Operator-driven business models
Operators (mobile and fixed) are stretching the existing mainstream business models to cover the new radio technologies and use cases.

Topic G1. Conceptual frameworks for interconnection of heterogeneous networks

• Analysis of proposed concepts (Ambient Networks, etc)

Topic G2. Business models of mobile operators for WLAN: case examples

• Analysis of WLAN solutions (WLAN roaming, UMA, SIM vs. RADIUS)
• Examples of latest offerings

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