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Testing the "Waterbed" Effect in Mobile Telephony

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Author Info
Christos Genakos
Tommaso Valletti

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Abstract

This paper examines the impact of regulatory intervention to cut termination rates of callsfrom fixed lines to mobile phones. Under quite general conditions of competition, theorysuggests that lower termination charges will result in higher prices for mobile subscribers, aphenomenon known as the "waterbed" effect. The waterbed effect has long beenhypothesized as a feature of many two-sided markets and especially the mobile networkindustry. Using a uniquely constructed panel of mobile operators' prices and profit marginsacross more than twenty countries over six years, we document empirically the existence andmagnitude of this effect. Our results suggest that the waterbed effect is strong, but not full.We also provide evidence that both competition and market saturation, but most importantlytheir interaction, affect the overall impact of the waterbed effect on prices.

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Paper provided by Centre for Economic Performance, LSE in its series CEP Discussion Papers with number dp0827.

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Date of creation: Oct 2007
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Handle: RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp0827

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Related research
Keywords: telecommunications; regulation; "Waterbed" effect; two-sided markets;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior
L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation
L96 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Telecommunications

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Jean-Charles Rochet Author-Email: rochet@cict.fr Author-Workplace-Name: IDEI, University of Toulouse & Jean Tirole Author-Email: tirole@cict.fr Author-Workplace-Name: IDEI, University of Toulouse, 2006. "Two-Sided Markets: A Progress Report," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 37(3), pages 645-667, Autumn.
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  2. Kaiser, Ulrich & Wright, Julian, 2006. "Price structure in two-sided markets: Evidence from the magazine industry," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 1-28, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  3. Marc Rysman, 2004. "Competition Between Networks: A Study of the Market for Yellow Pages," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 71(2), pages 483-512, 04. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Mark Armstrong Author-Email: mark.armstrong@ucl.ac.uk, 2006. "Competition in Two-Sided Markets," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 37(3), pages 668-691, Autumn.
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  5. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "How Much Should We Trust Differences-in-Differences Estimates?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 119(1), pages 249-275, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Besley, Timothy & Case, Anne, 2000. "Unnatural Experiments? Estimating the Incidence of Endogenous Policies," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 110(467), pages F672-94, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Jean-Jacques Laffont & Patrick Rey & Jean Tirole, 1998. "Network Competition: I. Overview and Nondiscriminatory Pricing," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 29(1), pages 1-37, Spring. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Wright, Julian, 2002. "Access Pricing under Competition: An Application to Cellular Networks," Journal of Industrial Economics, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 50(3), pages 289-315, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  18. Tommaso Valletti & George Houpis, 2005. "Mobile Termination: What is the “Right” Charge?," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 28(3), pages 235-258, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Full references

Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Lopez, Angel & Rey, Patrick, 2009. "Foreclosing Competition through Access Charges and Price Discrimination," IDEI Working Papers 570, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse. [Downloadable!]
  2. Jullien, Bruno & Rey, Patrick & Sand-Zantman, Wilfried, 2009. "Mobile Call Termination Revisited," IDEI Working Papers 551, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse. [Downloadable!]
  3. Harbord, David & Pagnozzi, Marco, 2008. "On-Net/Off-Net Price Discrimination and 'Bill-and-Keep' vs. 'Cost-Based' Regulation of Mobile Termination Rates," MPRA Paper 14540, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
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