Abstract

Mobile networks transformation into the main support for Internet access since last decade made Apple and Alphabet the most lucrative companies in a market where they were not present until then. The reinterpretation of platform model as multilateral markets where the value of service providers tends to increase, largely relinquishing control over supply, relegated telecommunications operators to access providers role in a market built on their own networks. The evolution towards the 5G could reverse this tendency to concentration by opening new markets for operators in the industrial sector within the Internet of Things (IoT), but also deepening the personalization of the offer to the user. This article analyzes the main milestones in the evolution of mobile networks, the strategies employed by Apple and Alphabet to position themselves as leaders in the most profitable niches, the basic characteristics of 5G and why this system can be an opportunity for operators to overcome the current duopoly.