Modeling the dynamics of competition between telecommunications companies

Abstract

Recently, Abrams and Strogatz, in a seminal article developed a dynamical system for modeling language endangerment and extinction that allows the evolution of the number of monolingual speakers of two competing languages. Here, we extend the model by incorporating three major groupssubscribers in two competing telecommmunication companies and non-subscribers. An approach using fixed point analysis qualitatively describes the evolution of competing communities. Analytic results are verified using an agent-based model of complex social networks, which show good correspondence with empirical data. The methods introduced here reveal emergent properties essential in the growth of communities.