B. fraunholz and C. Unnithan 1 Introduction The world of telecommunications has been transitioning rapidly over the past decade with mobile technologies enabling data services [1]. By the end of 2001, over 90% of countries had a mobile network in place, and 97 countries had more mobile than fixed telephone subscribers [2]. In 2002, 51% of the worlds phone owners were mobile phone subscribers [3]. Parallel to the rapid uptake of mobile phones has been the adoption of Global Systems for Mobile Communications(GSM) standard by 197 countries [4]and its acclaimed General Packet Radio Services(GPRS)data services 5] The key objectives of this paper are to derive some critical success factors for mobile communications, specifically in the two countries -Germany, a developed economy, and India, a developing economy. Despite their differences in stages of development and infrastructure, there seem to be interesting similarities in the mobile communications diffusion and the accepted network standard of GSm. In this precinct, we endeavoured to examine the critical factors in mobile communication diffusion from a historical omparative perspective [6] focussing on the evolution of the mobile telephony sector, networks and data services as leading indicators. The following section describes our 2 Methodology Our philosophical perspective for the purposes of this research has been interpretive, that is, the systematic analysis of socially meaningful action through the direct detailed observation of people in natural settings in order to arrive at understandings and interpretations (2, 3]. Through this approach, we expected to give our research the practical orientation as we study meaningful social action, not just observable behaviour of people. We hypothesised that there may be inherent meanings behind the uptake and diffusion of mobile communications within each of these countries and, perhaps, critical success factors could be derived. Many authors recommend exploratory studies when there is relatively less information regarding an evolving phenomenon to advance knowledge further [2, 3, 7]. Our study was exploratory but evaluative using cross-sectional data, and taking into consideration the rapid time transition in mobile communications. We have used the comparative historical technique for data collectio accommodate a mix of qualitative data such as existing statistics, documents, observations and random semi-structured interviews, which were found necessary to measure/conceptualise critical success factors in mobile communications. Comparative researchers examine patterns of similarities and differences across cases and try to come to terms with their diversity [6]. It helps in identifying aspects of social life that are general across units (or cultures in this context). The approach often encourages the researchers to ask questions that challenge their own cultural traditions. With both the researchers involved in studying relevant countries, the interpretation of socially relevant meanings were easily possible. Our research question was: what may be some of the critical success factors in mobile communication diffusion in Germany and india Within the approach, the cultural context type was the mobile communication diffusion process within the two economies. Conceptual equivalence(the ability to use the same concept across divergent cultures )and measurement equivalence(measuring the88 B. Fraunholz and C. Unnithan 1 Introduction The world of telecommunications has been transitioning rapidly over the past decade with mobile technologies enabling data services [1]. By the end of 2001, over 90% of countries had a mobile network in place, and 97 countries had more mobile than fixed telephone subscribers [2]. In 2002, 51% of the world’s phone owners were mobile phone subscribers [3]. Parallel to the rapid uptake of mobile phones has been the adoption of Global Systems for Mobile Communications (GSM) standard by 197 countries [4] and its acclaimed General Packet Radio Services (GPRS) data services [5]. The key objectives of this paper are to derive some critical success factors for mobile communications, specifically in the two countries – Germany, a developed economy, and India, a developing economy. Despite their differences in stages of development and infrastructure, there seem to be interesting similarities in the mobile communications diffusion and the accepted network standard of GSM. In this precinct, we endeavoured to examine the critical factors in mobile communication diffusion from a historical comparative perspective [6] focussing on the evolution of the mobile telephony sector, networks and data services as leading indicators. The following section describes our methodology. 2 Methodology Our philosophical perspective for the purposes of this research has been interpretive, that is, the systematic analysis of socially meaningful action through the direct detailed observation of people in natural settings in order to arrive at understandings and interpretations [2,3]. Through this approach, we expected to give our research the practical orientation as we study meaningful social action, not just observable behaviour of people. We hypothesised that there may be inherent meanings behind the uptake and diffusion of mobile communications within each of these countries and, perhaps, critical success factors could be derived. Many authors recommend exploratory studies when there is relatively less information regarding an evolving phenomenon – to advance knowledge further [2,3,7]. Our study was exploratory but evaluative using cross-sectional data, and taking into consideration the rapid time transition in mobile communications. We have used the comparative historical technique for data collection, to accommodate a mix of qualitative data such as existing statistics, documents, observations and random semi-structured interviews, which were found necessary to measure/conceptualise critical success factors in mobile communications. Comparative researchers examine patterns of similarities and differences across cases and try to come to terms with their diversity [6]. It helps in identifying aspects of social life that are general across units (or cultures in this context). The approach often encourages the researchers to ask questions that challenge their own cultural traditions. With both the researchers involved in studying relevant countries, the interpretation of socially relevant meanings were easily possible. Our research question was: what may be some of the critical success factors in mobile communication diffusion in Germany and India? Within the approach, the cultural context type was the mobile communication diffusion process within the two economies. Conceptual equivalence (the ability to use the same concept across divergent cultures) and measurement equivalence (measuring the