Telecom Service Provider Portal : Revenue Sharing and Outsourcing

Online portals, where customers may purchase digital products, can be leveraged for economic advantage by telecommunication network operators. Many different business models, characterized by revenue flow and portal ownership, are possible. However, they may create different degrees of advantages to the participants: network operator, service providers, and subscribers. Assuming a price dependent demand, we study how the parties obtain economic equilibrium in price, number of services, and sales volume, with and without portal-outsourcing. Specifically, we seek to establish whether the pattern of revenue flow creates advantages for certain parties, whether the network operator should provide open access (of his customers) to the service providers, and whether he should acquire new subscribers from independent portals