Opportunities and constraints for broadband wireless development in the Italian market: A mobile operator perspective

Today many technologies are available to offer mobile wireless broadband access. Drivers for the related technological developments have been highest performance and bit-rate needs, unlicensed spectrum availability and an American inherited research and development innovation footprint towards non-standardised solutions. Each of these technological innovations presents threats and opportunities for a mobile operator (MO) which have to be investigated in order to find the best compromise among perceived value, technological feasibility, customer needs and investments/costs aspects. In particular, the right choice is crucial for an incumbent operator, which has to strengthen its competitive advantage, through wireless broadband service integration with its existing solutions, in order to defend at the same time brand image and market share. The aim of the paper is to assess business and technological opportunities for an MO related to the launch of mobile broadband services, in order to define an 'optimised' competitive positioning.