Beyond the interoperability of telephony, VoIP and networking: self-realisation marketing contribution to value creation in telecommunications sector

Drawing on behaviour and trust literature, this article presents and discusses a marketing strategy applied by the operators of telecommunications, defined by the authors as Self-Realisation Marketing. Together with technology, this marketing strategy contributes to create value in this sector, partially taking advantage of inefficient regulation leading to market failure. From a technological point of view, this article evaluates the costs of three applications in long-distance communication, considering landline and mobile telephony, as well as Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) and their interoperability with the data net. On the other hand, from a business point of view, landline operators are losing clients because of the lack of specific regulation by the telecommunications authority. Through a theoretical discussion the paper hypothesises that value creation in this sector is the result of three distinct components: technological advancements, branding opportunities and regulation failures. The contribution of Self-Realisation Marketing is particularly underlined, showing how this tool can help to increase value both in a positive way (brand value) and in a negative way (hiding market failures).