Open AccessAnalyzing the Economic Effects of Past Mobile Network Sharing Deals for Future Network Deployment
Author(s) -
Kim Dongwook,
Kim Sungbum,
Zo Hangjung
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
etri journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.295
H-Index - 46
eISSN - 2233-7326
pISSN - 1225-6463
DOI - 10.4218/etrij.2017-0175
Subject(s) - public land mobile network , mobile broadband , roaming , capital expenditure , cellular network , telecommunications , computer science , software deployment , mobile computing , computer network , mobile payment , mobile telephony , business , mobile radio , accounting , wireless , operating system
The increase in data traffic calls for investment in mobile networks; however, the saturating revenue of mobile broadband and increasing capital expenditure are discouraging mobile operators from investing in next‐generation mobile networks. Mobile network sharing is a viable solution for operators and regulators to resolve this dilemma. This research uses a difference‐in‐differences analysis of 33 operators (including 11 control operators) to empirically evaluate the cost reduction effect of mobile network sharing. The results indicate a reduction in overall operating expenditure and short‐term capital expenditure by national roaming. This finding implies that future technology and standards development should focus on flexible network operation and maintenance, energy efficiency, and maximizing economies of scale in radio access networks. Furthermore, mobile network sharing will become more viable and relevant in a 5G network deployment as spectrum bands are likely to increase the total cost of ownership of mobile networks and technical enablers will facilitate network sharing.