Konvergenzstrategien von Mobilfunk- und Festnetzdiensteanbietern

Summary Much has been written on implications of potentially disappearing boundaries between the telecommunications, information technology, and media industries for the business strategies of firms operating in one of these markets. However, to date there is a dearth of management literature analyzing the nature and the causes of convergence phenomena within each of these sectors. Therefore, the present article focuses on an intra-industry convergence phenomenon for the telecommunications services sector, namely the blurring of the boundaries between the mobile radio and the fixed line telephony market arenas (= mobile-fixed convergence; MFC). The paper first describes four distinct types of MFC: (1) service convergence, (2) network convergence, (3) customer interface convergence, and (4) end user device convergence. Then, the article applies a framework of factors explaining the extent to which mobile and fixed network operators and resellers in the German telecommunications service market pursued (are likely to pursue) MFC-strategies in the 1997–2000 (2001–2005) time period. The analysis suggests that the two market leading mobile operators in Germany are the most likely candidates for entering into a mobile-fixed service convergence strategy in the next few years.