Business models for User Cooperation

Identifying attractive business models for the network/service provider and users based on cooperation is essential in order to secure the adoption of this technology. In this chapter, we identify new business models showing how we exploit cooperation between user terminals and heterogeneous networks and operators. However, enabling technology based on cooperation raises some hurdles that need to be addressed such as motivation, selfish behaviours, among others; all if which are challenges that can be best addressed at the business level rather than technology wise; for example, without tailored incentive mechanisms, operators will face difficulties to implement cooperation among users. This chapter focuses mainly on the business models, addressing the importance of reducing the global power consumption. This chapter provides a survey of existing business models, which can be tailored to fit the approaches proposed within the book. Based on our survey, motivations and challenges are identified. Different business solutions are proposed using use cases to emphasize the selection of cooperation scenarios and network sharing.