A Reference Model of Internet Service Provider Businesses

Abstract

This paper presents a reference model of Internet businesses that facilitates the description of business models and business relationships of Internet service providers (ISP). The model also helps to understand the value proposition chain in the ISP market. The reference model is introduced by defining the basic roles that a business can play on the Internet. These basic roles are the building blocks of business models of ISPs and are essential to analyze the business relationships between ISPs. We also examine some ISP business models, in order to demonstrate how ISPs address market niches by offering certain Internet services. The provisioning of these Internet services requires that ISPs establish business relationships with other ISPs. The analysis of these business relationships reveals important aspects of their business models.