Outsourcing of managed telecommunication services : reasons and implications on service development and business model. A practical case study in an international telecommunication service provider

This paper comes from the specific need of developing and launching in the telecommunication market a new managed service. Studies about the benefits that managed telecommunication services give to the business of multinational corporations had been already performed. This paper tries to go further by analyzing why local telecom operators and carriers, that used to provide to the end customer full managed services, are now sourcing service management and support activities to specific companies that belong to the same group and used to play the role of international wholesalers. The study is conducted by comparing empirical data gathered with a case study approach in a real telecommunication company, with the theories and the existing studies related to the topic. The first aim is to understand the reasons of this restructuration of an integrated telecommunication operator, in terms of roles and activities to be performed by the different companies that form a whole telecom group. The second aim is to understand the theoretical and managerial implications that this change have in the development of the new activities required to provide a managed telecommunication service.