From manufacturing to services. The effects of convergence on telecom manufacturers

This paper examines the structural change in the telecom equipment's industry. Manufacturers have been deeply affected by the digital convergence, which has largely replaced demand for hardware with growing investments in software, solutions and services. Equipment suppliers, therefore, are focusing on providing either Operating Support Systems (OSS), typically Service Delivery and Fault Management solutions, and Business Support Systems (BSS), mainly Help Desk, CRM and Billing Solutions. As far as OSS are concerned, the market's share of equipment suppliers is relevant, whereas the supply of BSS is dominated by both medium-size and large IT companies. Old players enter new markets and, at the same time, they are challenged in markets where they have enjoyed market power for years and, in spite of the difficulty in monitoring all these changes, the paper tries to keep pace with some of them.