A Study On Business Models Of Mobile Service Providers

There are many mobile service providers in mobile commerce, and this issue focuses on mobile network operator (MNO), content provider and mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) who are the main players among them. Business Model is a concept that explains how corporations make profit, which is the most important thing in business management. The business models of mobile service providers will be researched in this dissertation.The basic information of mobile commerce and the concept of mobile services provider are firstly introduced, then based on the value chain theory, the research framework is concluded. In the following three chapters, business models of MNO, content provider and MVNO are separately studied. Their environments, relationships with other players, core competitiveness and profit models are discussed in turn. The business models of MNO are studied in chapter 2. According to the involvement of MNO in the value chain, network provider model, WAP gateway model, mobile portal model and intermedial model are analyzed. Moreover two cases of Japanese NTT and China Mobile are studied. The business models of content provider are studied in chapter 3. Main content providers are listed and main content services are discussed, the environments of content provider are discussed, the relationships with MNO, customer and content owners are studied, core competitiveness and profit model of content provider are concluded. The business models of MVNO are studied in chapter 4. The reasons of MVNO emergence are explained, the policy environments of MVNO are discussed, the cooperant competitive relationships with MNO are emphasized, and core competitiveness and profit model of MVNO are concluded. Finally a conclusion is drawn to sum up the whole issue.