The 3G Transition: Changes in the U.S. Wireless Industry

David Tilson, Case Western Reserve University, and Kalle Lyytinen, Case Western Reserve University

1/01/2005
(Original Publish Date: 2006)

The transition of the wireless industry from second generation (2G) to third generation (3G) is more than a simple technology upgrade. The industry's service profile will move far beyond telephony and services will converge with the computing and content sectors. This will bring many more players into this already huge industry. Thus the transition to 3G needs to be regarded as a major economic transformation as it requires a major reconfiguration of the existing value networks. Standards have traditionally been essential in the success of wireless services and will play an increasingly critical role in the future. Due to the on-going transition, wireless standardization has changed considerably - reflecting changes in the configuration of the value network. While the number of major air-interface standards has been reduced to just two, the overall number of standards bodies has increased by almost an order of magnitude while the number and scope of interfaces being standardized has grown at a breathtaking pace. This growth reflects the need to support the industry's new coordination requirements at critical interfaces in the value network. At the same time, the importance of the traditional standards development organizations (SDOs) has diminished as more nimble industry consortia have taken over the main responsibilities for standardization. The major standardization battlegrounds have shifted up the protocol stack to the service enabler level. In addition, the manufacture of handsets and other mobile communication devices is transitioning to a more horizontal industry structure. These changes, along with changes in the way value is extracted from new services and their influence on the reconfiguration of the industry are discussed.