Knowledge-based alliances as a driver of mobile telecommunications convergence: an historical and technical overview

This paper explores the issues of knowledge sharing through alliances in the context of mobile telecommunications. We argue that the converged nature of the technology drives the imperative for more complex alliance structures. We discuss the competitive and operational challenges of delivering new telecommunications technologies in such a context. We focus on the GSM technological system, the dominant digital technological standard for mobile telecommunications. We begin our analysis by discussing the nature of the technological system of GSM from a market and historical perspective. We then analyse data on alliances and joint ventures relating to GSM from the SDC Platinum Joint Ventures and Alliances Database. We note the strategic intention of the alliances and the nature of the knowledge, expertise or intellectual property exchanged between the participants in the alliances. We conclude by discussing how knowledge-based alliances are becoming an imperative for success in the telecommunications sector.John Rice, Nigel Marti