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Background
Mobile industry has become one the most important industries in the
developed world. Mobile phones have brought mobility, connectivity and
efficiency for consumer and business users alike. Today, the industry
is experiencing two kinds of convergence. Firstly, communications
industry is converging with the media industry. Mobile phones do not
only provide communication services, but also deliver various kinds of
content ranging from news feeds to music. New mobile Web 2.0 and
context-aware ubiquitous services are changing the traditional business
models with user-created content and advertising. Secondly, telecom
industry is converging with the Internet. Traditional value networks
embedded in the operator-driven telecom world are facing a threat from
Internet companies and multi-access platforms. Convergence should be
understood in both of these dimensions. Key sources of uncertainty are
not technical, but they instead originate from the evolving business
models.
Research on mobile telecommunications is currently focused on either
technical issues (e.g. networking protocols, radio technologies, and
application development), or purely business-related issues (e.g.
mobile advertising, operator value networks). In the MoMI project, a
holistic techno-economic perspective is applied, taking into account
the possibilities and limitations of different technologies, business
related decisions of operators, equipment vendors, and service/content
providers, as well as the laws and rules set by policy-makers and
regulators.
The project aims at understanding the ongoing transformation of the
mobile industry by using empirical measurements that are implemented in
collaboration with Finnish mobile operators and Nokia. The project,
along with the empirical measurements, is a continuation of previous
national LEAD (2004-2005) and COIN (2006-2007) research projects. The
value of the longitudinal analysis conducted in the project increases
as more datasets are collected.
The major strengths of the MoMI project consortium include 1) expertise
in the empirical modeling of mobile Internet usage, 2) a collaborative
research setting with the major Finnish mobile sector companies, and 3)
the set of research initiatives with leading foreign universities (e.g.
Chalmers in Sweden, University of Athens in Greece, WASEDA in Japan,
MIT in the USA). The project also leverages the other research
initiatives inside the TEKES-funded Econ@Tel (COST) program and ICT
SHOK Flexible Services program. In addition, close collaboration with
the Finnish OtaSizzle, DECICOM and InHoNets projects is expected.
Furthermore, it is expected that 1-2 researchers partly conduct their
research in the MoMI project in foreign academic institutions.
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