Competitive relationships between traditional and contemporary telecommunication services in Taiwan

This study sets out to examine the competitive relationships that exist within the telecommunications market using the niche theory on the personal gratifications and system gratifications dimensions. The findings from the analysis of 363 survey responses indicate that traditional and contemporary telecommunication services offer different specializations to satisfy their consumers. Overall, mobile telecommunication services partially replace wired services, on personal gratifications dimensions in particular. The system gratifications dimensions of the wired telecommunication services facilitate the existence of wired services. New telecommunication services (3G and VoIP) partially replace old telecommunication services (home landline and 2G) in providing greater satisfaction in entertainment. The results also demonstrate that VoIP does not impose competitive displacement effects on home landline, 2G, and 3G services. Limitation and suggestions are discussed.

► This paper analyzes the competitive relationships among home landline, 2G, 3G, and VoIP. ► Mobile telecommunication services partially replace wired services on personal gratifications. ► 3G and VoIP partially replace landline and 2G in providing greater satisfaction in entertainment.► VoIP does not impose competitive displacement effects on home landline, 2G, and 3G services.