Valuation of alternative business models in information, communication and media markets: Convergence, ubiquity and pervasiveness

Information, Communication and Media Markets (ICMM) are in a process of tremendous change. IPbased technologies and services such as broadband and triple/quadruple-play are realities that have the ability to enforce the convergence of so far parallel industries, that is, Telephony, Internet, and Broadcast. In this paper, the authors derive a scenario where a telecom operator aims to design, develop, and validate a global B3G (Beyond 3rd Generation) framework to support secure, personalized, and pervasive telecommunications services built on heterogeneous network and service infrastructures. The authors rethink the telecommunications architecture and business models to enable easy, seamless, and pervasive access to content and services, while supporting user preferences and context. This proposal involves significant changes in current industry business models. A value chain approach allows the identification of different scenarios, where the firm faces several options from which to choose. The authors investigate operators' decision process and evaluates the project based on its flexibility, using a real option approach.