Long Tail in International Roaming?

International mobile roaming (IMR) has traditionally been a significant revenue generating source for mobile operators. The control over wide area network access and coverage has been a major reason for retaining customers. However, in recent years, new players are emerging in the telecommunications market which, either by aggregation or individually, offer an alternative to roaming customers, often at a lower price and higher bandwidth, compared to the mobile wide area access network by using low-cost, unlicensed and limited mobility access networks such as WLANs, also know as hotspots. Recently, long tail phenomenon, or the pattern of large number of smaller items or value has generated considerable interest especially in the online digital content retail market and industry. The paper investigates the presence of such a long tail phenomenon in the international roaming market and the emerging value network related to this development.