Competition in wholesale markets: Do MNOs compete to host MVNOs?

• This paper examines wholesale market shares of mobile network operators (MNOs).
• Wholesale market concentration has decreased over time.
• Those MNOs that are late entrants have greater wholesale market shares.
• Belonging to an international group has effect on wholesale market shares.
• KPN is specializing in hosting virtual operators as part of its international strategy.

This paper extends previous research examining wholesale market shares of mobile network operators (MNOs). This study demonstrates that wholesale market concentration has decreased over time because of the increase of competition of MNOs for hosting mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs). However, differences in wholesale market shares between MNOs have not disappeared. We propose that those operators that are late entrants in a market and belong to an international group with a proactive attitude towards hosting virtual operators positively influences wholesale market shares of MNOs. The empirical analysis is based on a panel data from 2000 to 2010 corresponding to MNOs and virtual operators in five European countries with high development of the virtual mobile industry. By closely examining KPN we show how being an international mobile group specialising in the wholesale market across Europe has enabled it to exploit complementarities that exist between traditional and virtual businesses.