ADAMANTIUM Business Model Definition     ADAMANTIUM Business Model Evaluation

ADAMANTIUM Business Perspectives

More information: ADAMANTIUM Deliverable D6.3-F.

The STOF method (STOF stands for Service, Technology, Organization and Finance and it is a method offering a comprehensive way of modeling and analyzing a business framework) is used to further evaluate the proposed business model. The business model concept in the STOF framework is defined as a blueprint of how a network of cooperating business entities and processes intends to create and capture value from new, innovative services. A STOF model approach for ADAMANTIUM is depicted in next figure.

The STOF-model consists of four domains: service domain, technology domain, financial domain and organization domain. Each of these domains constantly interacts with the others and is affected by external factors like market dynamics, technological advancements and regulatory framework.

ADAMANTIUM business model is analyzed both externally (influences by external forces) and internally (four domains analysis).

Analysis from the standpoint of external forces that influence the proposed business model characteristics and attributes.

• Technological drivers for ADAMANTIUM VoIP and IPTV

• Innovative mobile communication advances and technologically enhanced mobile devices

• An increase in effective mobile distribution capacity. The older capacity of mobile network was not sufficient to deliver streaming video and audio service with certain quality.

• An increased ability to process user feedback via recently developed, innovative technologies that increase the feasibility of interaction even when on move. Recent technology developments make interaction more feasible in the mobile environment. The return channels, carrying messages from viewers to service providers, create possibilities to develop new, tailored and personal services for end-users and new revenue models for mobile operators like interactive advertisements.

• An increase in storage and processing capacity controlled by end users ensure quicker innovations in the application layer, regardless of transmission bottlenecks

• Market-related drivers and conditions

• Growing usage of mobile services

• Growing market demand (Western Europe has proven to be one of the world's most vibrant markets with regard to mobile VoIP and IPTV)

• A convergence of voice, internet, mobile services, information, telecommunication and TV industry that leads to fiercer competition but also to lower prices and greater variety of offered services

• Regulatory conditions

• The regulatory climate in the telecommunication sector has changed from old rules to new policy. Technology development gradually transformed a world of spectrum scarcity, dumb terminals and natural monopoly to a world of abundant channels, intelligent terminals and unnatural monopoly. The distinctions between different services platforms are largely blurred due to digitization, mobility and therefore the distinctive regulations for different sectors, telecommunications, are gradually being removed. Already, the EU made a distinction between regulation covering the distribution and audiovisual content in the recently approved directive on audiovisual media.

Technology, market and regulatory developments set the conditions under which the suggested ADAMANTIUM business model for mobile VoIP and IPTV is proposed to be developed given the current technological, market and regulatory framework. Based on the STOF model framework of analysis, the ADAMANTIUM business model of mobile VoIP and IPTV will be further evaluated in its exploration phase where critical choices in each of the four STOF domains will be analyzed, with particular emphasis on the tradeoffs and relationships between relevant design options.


Analysis from the standpoint of internal domains.

• Service Domain

Many mobile operators position VoIP and IPTV as a service that directly competes on the mass-market with other mobile services such as mobile Internet. Mobile operators expect they will be able to take advantage of their expertise and of consumer loyalty in the mobile market. They have to leverage their resources to increase the competitiveness of these services. There are three ways in which they can do so: (1) bundling these services with other already provided and widely used mobile services, (2) portfolio focusing on exclusivity or on a wide range of niche services, (3) offering more value added services with higher QoS as proposed by ADAMANTIUM.

• Technology Domain

Within the technology domain, there are the layers of architecture when it comes to offering mobile VoIP and IPTV over the mobile network. Technical analysis of this architecture is beyond the scope of this paper but is worth mentioning that part of the technology domain of the ADAMANTIUM business model is the ADAMANTIUM project proposal of the innovative IMS-compatible Multimedia Content Management System - MCMS (focused on performing a dynamic cross layer adaptation for the optimization of the user experience in terms of the delivered PQoS level for IPTV and VoIP services).

• Organization Domain

Key actors in the value network chain of mobile VoIP and IPTV services are considered telecom/mobile operators, content providers, telecom equipment, middleware providers, advertisers and consumers. Telecom operators participate in and organize the entire value delivery process. They produce or purchase the video content, and maintain the network (mobile or wire line) and the hardware and software components of various services/applications supported by equipment manufacturers. A content aggregator intermediates between content providers and the telecom provider. Advertisers can also be involved. Ownership of and control over successive stages of the value chain plays a decisive role in the way these services are marketed. Another relevant issue has to do with the extent to which the telecom provider wants to be involved in the production of content.

• Financial Domain

Technical and service design choices determine the commercial exploitation cost of ADAMANTIUM project. Interactive services require financial investments to upgrade network equipment and to solve technical problems. In the current mobile market, most mobile operators use a flat rate subscription model (monthly subscription based on contract), and they are slowly adopting pay-per-service models such as pay per view, pay per duration, as well as advertising in the case of VoD services of mobile IPTV. However, if more IPTV customized and personal services were to come available, a flexible pricing model would be more desirable and feasible to cover such characteristics like IPTV offering with quality standards or not.


As can be concluded from this STOF model analysis (technology drivers for VoIP and IPTV, market dynamics, and regulatory conditions, as well as the four STOF domains) of ADAMANTIUM business model, there are critical interdependencies between service design, technical architectures, organizational arrangement and financial performances. Telecom/Mobile operators have to balance their requirements in these domains and take into consideration the external factors and strategic interests so as to make the appropriate decision on the business model enhancements that they have to make into their business models in order to adapt ADAMANTIUM proposed services.