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The Effect Of Entry And Market Structure On Cellular Pricing Tactics

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  • Katja Seim

    (Graduate School of Business, Stanford University)

  • V. Brian Viard

    (Graduate School of Business, Stanford University)

Abstract

We test the effect of entry on the tariff choices of incumbent cellular firms. We relate the change in the breadth of calling plans between 1996, when incumbents enjoyed a duopoly market, and 1998, when incumbents faced increased competition from personal communications services (PCS) firms. Entry by PCS competitors differed across geographic markets due to the number of licenses left undeveloped as a result of the bankruptcy of some of the auctions’ winning bidders and due to variation across markets in the time required to build a sufficiently large network of wireless infrastructure. We find that incumbents increase tariff variety in markets with more entrants and that this effect is not explained by demographic heterogeneity or cost differences in maintaining calling plans across markets. We also find that incumbents are more likely to upgrade their technology from the old analog technology to the new digital technology in markets with more entry, suggesting that entry also has indirect effects on tariff choice via firms’ technology adoption decisions.

Suggested Citation

  • Katja Seim & V. Brian Viard, 2003. "The Effect Of Entry And Market Structure On Cellular Pricing Tactics," Working Papers 03-13, NET Institute, revised Nov 2003.
    • Handle: RePEc:net:wpaper:0313
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    Cited by:

    1. Patrick Bajari & Jeremy Fox & Stephen Ryan, 2008. "Evaluating wireless carrier consolidation using semiparametric demand estimation," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 6(4), pages 299-338, December.
    2. Eugenio J. Miravete, 2004. "The Doubtful Profitability of Foggy Pricing," Working Papers 04-07, NET Institute.
    3. Eugenio J. Miravete, 2004. "The Doubtful Profitability of Foggy Pricing," Working Papers 04-07, NET Institute.
    4. Ron Borzekowski & Raphael Thomadsen & Charles Taragin, 2009. "Competition and price discrimination in the market for mailing lists," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 7(2), pages 147-179, June.
    5. Katja Seim & V. Brian Viard, 2011. "The Effect of Market Structure on Cellular Technology Adoption and Pricing," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 3(2), pages 221-251, May.
    6. Eugenio J. Miravete, 2009. "Competing with Menus of Tariff Options," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 7(1), pages 188-205, March.
    7. Gil, Ricard & Hartmann, Wesley R., 2008. "Why Does Popcorn Cost So Much at the Movies? An Empirical Analysis of Metering Price Discrimination," Research Papers 1983, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    8. Yao Luo, 2011. "Nonlinear Pricing with Product Customization in Mobile Service Industry," Working Papers 11-28, NET Institute.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    entry; market structure; cellular; price discrimination; nonlinear pricing; telecommunications;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance
    • L96 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Telecommunications

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