Co-opetition opportunities in Lithuanian alternative telecommunication market

Co-opetition, a new approach to relationships between companies, is based on both competition and cooperation. The paper looks into the possibilities and benefits of co-opetition in the telecommunication industry. In the telecommunication infrastructure, business development needs high investment. Besides, alternative telecommunication service providers share only 7.6 per cent of the Lithuanian market. Therefore, small and medium companies in this market have limited possibilities for developing new services, competing with the major players and expanding their telecommunication business. Thus, the main objective of this study is twofold: a) to explore potential for the development of co-opetition relationship between small and medium alternative telecommunication service providers and b) to identify the area in which this relationship could create the highest value. Research results indicated an important assumption for the development of co-opetition relations. Although Lithuanian alternative telecommunication service providers compete with each other, their attitude to co-opetition appears to be more positive in comparison to that of competition. The highest value for the telecommunication companies could be produced by co-opetition in the field of production (e.g., aggregating production capacity; outsourcing production to other companies; working on projects independently).