4G Technology: The role of telecom carriers

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the role of telecom carriers, analyzing operator strategies and performance in entering activities such as the entertainment industry, financial services or e-health. The chapter explores the evolution taken place in the development and deployment of the 4G long-term evolution technology, and the regulatory changes involved in such an evolution. It illustrates the large investments required in mobile technology which are driven by the whole of the ecosystem, which includes operators, software producers, hardware producers and contents, services and applications providers. The chapter tackles the regulation that has favoured or in some cases hindered the development of the telecom sector and the digital economy in Europe in general and in Spain in particular. It concludes by discussing how despite the large investments undertaken by mobile network operators, the growth in their revenues has stagnated in recent years, largely because their principal markets are saturated and on account of competition from virtual operators and the top firms also offering voice and data services using the networks deployed by the former.