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Impact Of Competition, Investment, And Regulation On Prices Of Mobile Services: Evidence From France

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  • Ambre Nicolle
  • Lukasz Grzybowski
  • Christine Zulehner

Abstract

In this paper, we assess the impact of competition, investment, and regulation on prices of mobile services in France. We estimate hedonic price regressions using data on tariff plans offered by the main mobile telecommunications operator in France between May 2011 and December 2014. In this time period, the obtained quality‐adjusted price index decreased by about 42.8% as compared to a decline in weighted average prices without quality‐adjustment of 8.7%. In a second step, we relate the quality‐adjusted prices to a set of competition, investment, and regulation variables and find that the launch of 4G networks by mobile operators was the main driver of price reductions for classic tariffs with commitment. Low‐cost tariffs without commitment which were introduced to pre‐empt the entry of low‐cost competitor declined at the time of entry. Moreover, we find that regulation, which is approximated by the level of mobile termination charges and international roaming price caps for voice and data, has a joint significant impact on quality‐adjusted prices. In percentage terms, competition is responsible for about 23.4% of total price decline and investments in 4G for 56.1%. We conclude that the reduction in quality‐adjusted prices in the last years was largely caused by competition between operators for a new 4G technology and by entry of a fourth low‐cost operator. (JEL L13, L50, L96)

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  • Ambre Nicolle & Lukasz Grzybowski & Christine Zulehner, 2018. "Impact Of Competition, Investment, And Regulation On Prices Of Mobile Services: Evidence From France," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(2), pages 1322-1345, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecinqu:v:56:y:2018:i:2:p:1322-1345
    DOI: 10.1111/ecin.12547
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    1. Muñoz-Acevedo, Ángela & Grzybowski, Lukasz, 2023. "Impact of roaming regulation on revenues and prices of mobile operators in the EU," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    2. Berne, Michel & Vialle, Pierre & Whalley, Jason, 2019. "An analysis of the disruptive impact of the entry of Free Mobile into the French mobile telecommunications market," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(3), pages 262-277.
    3. Ashutosh Jha & Manisha Chakrabarty & Debashis Saha, 2023. "Network Investment as Drivers of Mobile Subscription – A Firm-level Analysis," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 25(5), pages 1811-1828, October.
    4. Hawthorne, Ryan & Grzybowski, Lukasz, 2021. "Distribution of the benefits of regulation vs. competition: The case of mobile telephony in South Africa," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    5. Lukasz Grzybowski & Ryan Hawthrone, 2019. "Benefits of regulation vs competition where inequality is high: The case of mobile telephony in South Africa," Working Papers 791, Economic Research Southern Africa.
    6. Rabah Arezki & Vianney Dequiedt & Rachel Yuting Fan & Carlo Maria Rossotto, 2021. "Working Paper 352 - Liberalization, Technology Adoption, and Stock Returns: Evidence from Telecom," Working Paper Series 2478, African Development Bank.
    7. Wellmann, Nicolas, 2019. "Hello . . . Are You Still There? An Empirical Analysis How Market Structure Affects Quality of Mobile Networks," VfS Annual Conference 2019 (Leipzig): 30 Years after the Fall of the Berlin Wall - Democracy and Market Economy 203579, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    8. Verboven, Frank & Bourreau, Marc & Sun, Yutec, 2018. "Market Entry, Fighting Brands and Tacit Collusion: The Case of the French Mobile Telecommunications Market," CEPR Discussion Papers 12866, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L50 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - General
    • L96 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Telecommunications

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