The Interrelationships Between Technical Standards And
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THE INTERRELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN TECHNICAL STANDARDS AND INDUSTRY STRUCTURES: ACTOR-NETWORK BASED CASE STUDIES OF THE MOBILE WIRELESS AND TELEVISION INDUSTRIES IN THE US AND THE UK by DAVID ALBERT TILSON Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements For the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Dissertation Advisor: Dr. Kalle Lyytinen Information Systems Department Weatherhead School of Management CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY May 2008 CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES We hereby approve the dissertation of _____________________________________________________David Albert Tilson Ph.D. in Management candidate for the ________________________ degree *. Kalle Lyytinen (signed )____________________________________________ (chair of the committee) ________________________________________________Bo Carlsson Carsten Sørensen ________________________________________________ Youngjin Yoo ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ ________________________________________________ December 7, 2007 (date) ________________________________________________ * We also certify that written approval has been obtained for any proprietary material contained therein. ii Copyright © 2008 by David Albert Tilson All rights reserved iii For my wife, Vera, and our children, Hannah, and Leah, with love . iv Table of Contents List of tables ...................................................................................................................... vii List of figures ................................................................................................................... viii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ xi Abstract ............................................................................................................................. xii I. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 II. Prior research .................................................................................................................. 6 The economic perspective ........................................................................................ 6 Non-economic perspectives ................................................................................... 27 III. Proposed Theoretical Framework ............................................................................... 40 Selecting the primary theoretical perspective ........................................................ 40 Unpacking translation during standards making and adoption .............................. 42 Revisiting the research questions and objectives ................................................... 46 IV. Research Design ......................................................................................................... 50 Research Setting ..................................................................................................... 50 Research Method .................................................................................................... 57 V. The Early Wireless Industry and 1G and 2G mobile wireless systems ....................... 71 The early history of radio ....................................................................................... 71 Fundamentals of radio communications ................................................................. 76 Coordination of spectrum usage and telecom standards creation .......................... 80 First generation (1G) analog cellular radio services .............................................. 87 Second generation (2G) digital cellular radio services......................................... 103 Discussion of wireless industries in the US and the UK ...................................... 128 v VI. Changes in the Wireless Industry with the 3G transition ......................................... 150 Overview of changes in the conceptualization of third generation (3G) wireless 150 New mobile services – SMS and 2.5G packet data .............................................. 152 The creation of 3G standards in Europe ............................................................... 158 The creation of 3G standards in the US ............................................................... 180 Discussion of 3G standards creation and industry structure ................................ 193 VII. The Television Industry and Convergence .............................................................. 236 The early history of television technology in the UK and the US ....................... 236 The television industry in the UK ........................................................................ 242 The television industry in the US ......................................................................... 247 The Internet as a threat and a new platform for video services ............................ 253 Discussion about the television industry and convergence .................................. 263 VIII. Mobile TV and Video: The emerging story in the USA and the UK .................... 285 The development of mobile video and television ................................................ 286 Mobile TV and video unicast services ................................................................. 298 Mobile TV and video broadcast services ............................................................. 304 Discussion of mobile TV and video ..................................................................... 316 IX. Discussion and Conclusions ..................................................................................... 325 Revisiting the research questions ......................................................................... 325 Contributions, limitations and further research .................................................... 370 Appendix 1: Interview Guide .......................................................................................... 379 References ....................................................................................................................... 381 vi List of tables Table 1. Sub-optimal levels of standardization by coordination ...................................... 14 Table 2. Summary of the economic effect of standards .................................................... 20 Table 3. Example effects of standards upon industry structure (Porter’s five forces) ...... 22 Table 4. Institutional Pressures ......................................................................................... 36 Table 5. Mapping high-level research questions to sub-questions consistent with the selected actor-network theoretical perspective .............................................. 48 Table 6. Alignment between research questions, constructs, data collection and analysis ....................................................................................................................... 69 Table 7. Common radio spectrum band designations ....................................................... 78 Table 8. Launch of analog cellular systems in major European countries and US (adapted from Garrard, 1997) ..................................................................................... 100 Table 9. US Case study - details of interviews and interviewees ................................... 194 Table 10. UK Case study - details of interviews and interviewees ................................ 195 Table 11. Content producer/on-line distributor partnerships (Amobi & Donald, 2007) 262 Table 12. Bundled products offered by major UK service providers, March 2007 (Ofcom, 2007b) .......................................................................................................... 277 Table 13. Channel bundles offered on Orange TV (as of March 2007) ......................... 299 Table 14. Channel bundles offered by Sky Mobile TV on Vodafone (March 2007) ..... 302 Table 15. Summary of findings across cases for Research Question 1 .......................... 335 Table 16. Summary of findings across cases for Research Question 2 .......................... 346 vii List of figures Figure 1. Categorization of standards creation processes 12 Figure 2. Standardization strategy formulation for actors in the problematization and interessement phases 44 Figure 3. Central role of standards in wireless industry (Lyytinen & King, 2002) 52 Figure 4. Scatterplot showing the relationship between the profitability and competition 56 Figure 5. Venture capital investment by country of management and destination, 57 Figure 6. "2x4" longitudinal case study design 63 Figure 7. Electromagnetic Spectrum ("Electromagnetic radiation," 2007) 73 Figure 8. Technical developments and application of radio leading up 1G cellular mobile telephony services (adapted from Garrard, 1997, p. 2) 77 Figure 9. Basic components of a cellular radio system 89 Figure 10. Early US cellular handsets 92 Figure 11. Time line of major events in first generation cellular services in USA 93 Figure 12. Time line of major events in first generation (1G) cellular services in UK 102 Figure 13. High-level GSM System Architecture 110 Figure 14. Trend in share of UK mobile subscribers (Source: Financial Times) 115 Figure 15. Time line of major events in second generation (2G) mobile services in UK / Europe 116 Figure 16. Time line of major events in second generation (2G) cellular services in