IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/iepoli/v28y2014icp70-82.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Broadband investment and welfare under functional and ownership separation

Author

Listed:
  • Avenali, Alessandro
  • Matteucci, Giorgio
  • Reverberi, Pierfrancesco

Abstract

We study how the vertical industry structure affects investment in network quality and social welfare, with a focus on the prospective deployment of high-speed broadband access networks (the so-called NGA). We model pros and cons of vertical separation, namely, pro-competitive effects and loss of some efficiencies of vertical integration, and distinguish functional separation from ownership separation. Our findings challenge the presumption that (compared with vertical integration) vertical separation reduces investment incentives and involves a trade-off between promoting consumer surplus and ensuring investment. While investment is higher under ownership rather than functional separation, the latter may yield the highest social welfare among vertical industry structures. Furthermore, the incumbent may voluntarily opt for functional separation, but in some of these cases, prohibiting separation improves welfare.

Suggested Citation

  • Avenali, Alessandro & Matteucci, Giorgio & Reverberi, Pierfrancesco, 2014. "Broadband investment and welfare under functional and ownership separation," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 70-82.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:iepoli:v:28:y:2014:i:c:p:70-82
    DOI: 10.1016/j.infoecopol.2014.07.003
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167624514000316
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.infoecopol.2014.07.003?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nitsche, Rainer & Wiethaus, Lars, 2011. "Access regulation and investment in next generation networks -- A ranking of regulatory regimes," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 263-272, March.
    2. Chen, Yongmin & Sappington, David E.M., 2009. "Designing input prices to motivate process innovation," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 390-402, May.
    3. Buehler, Stefan & Schmutzler, Armin & Benz, Men-Andri, 2004. "Infrastructure quality in deregulated industries: is there an underinvestment problem?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 253-267, February.
    4. Cremer Helmuth & De Donder Philippe, 2013. "Network Investment under Legal and Ownership Unbundling," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 27-59, March.
    5. Inderst, Roman & Peitz, Martin, 2014. "Investment under uncertainty and regulation of new access networks," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 28-41.
    6. Alessandro Avenali & Anna D’Annunzio & Pierfrancesco Reverberi, 2013. "Bundling, Competition and Quality Investment: A Welfare Analysis," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 43(3), pages 221-241, November.
    7. Mattia Nardotto & Tommaso Valletti & Frank Verboven, 2015. "Unbundling The Incumbent: Evidence From Uk Broadband," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 13(2), pages 330-362, April.
    8. Marc Bourreau & Pinar Dogan, 2006. ""Build-or-Buy" Strategies in the Local Loop," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 96(2), pages 72-76, May.
    9. Stefan Buehler & Dennis Gärtner & Daniel Halbheer, 2006. "Deregulating Network Industries: Dealing with Price-quality Tradeoffs," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 99-115, July.
    10. David Mandy & David Sappington, 2007. "Incentives for sabotage in vertically related industries," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 31(3), pages 235-260, June.
    11. Mizuno, Keizo & Yoshino, Ichiro, 2012. "Distorted access regulation with strategic investments: Regulatory non-commitment and spillovers revisited," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 120-131.
    12. Höffler, Felix & Kranz, Sebastian, 2011. "Legal unbundling can be a golden mean between vertical integration and ownership separation," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 29(5), pages 576-588, September.
    13. Bourreau, Marc & Cambini, Carlo & Hoernig, Steffen, 2012. "Ex ante regulation and co-investment in the transition to next generation access," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 399-406.
    14. Gugler, Klaus & Rammerstorfer, Margarethe & Schmitt, Stephan, 2013. "Ownership unbundling and investment in electricity markets — A cross country study," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 702-713.
    15. Brito Duarte & Pereira Pedro & Vareda João, 2012. "Does Vertical Separation Necessarily Reduce Quality Discrimination and Increase Welfare?," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 12(1), pages 1-44, November.
    16. Cambini, Carlo & Silvestri, Virginia, 2012. "Technology investment and alternative regulatory regimes with demand uncertainty," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 212-230.
    17. Oecd, 2003. "The Benefits and Costs of Structural Separation of the Local Loop," OECD Digital Economy Papers 76, OECD Publishing.
    18. Brito, Duarte & Pereira, Pedro & Vareda, João, 2010. "Can two-part tariffs promote efficient investment on next generation networks?," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 323-333, May.
    19. Avenali, Alessandro & Matteucci, Giorgio & Reverberi, Pierfrancesco, 2010. "Dynamic access pricing and investment in alternative infrastructures," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 167-175, March.
    20. Cave, Martin, 2006. "Six Degrees of Separation : Operational Separation as a Remedy in European Telecommunications Regulation," MPRA Paper 3572, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Faulhaber, Gerald R., 2003. "Policy-induced competition: the telecommunications experiments," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 73-97, March.
    22. Foros, Oystein, 2004. "Strategic investments with spillovers, vertical integration and foreclosure in the broadband access market," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 1-24, January.
    23. Carlo Cambini and Virginia Silvestri, 2012. "Technology Investment and Alternative Regulatory Regimes with Demand Uncertainty," RSCAS Working Papers 2012/15, European University Institute.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Avenali, Alessandro & Boitani, Andrea & Catalano, Giuseppe & D’Alfonso, Tiziana & Matteucci, Giorgio, 2018. "Assessing standard costs in local public bus transport: A hybrid cost model," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 48-57.
    2. Avenali, Alessandro & Bracaglia, Valentina & D'Alfonso, Tiziana & Reverberi, Pierfrancesco, 2018. "Strategic formation and welfare effects of airline-high speed rail agreements," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 117(PA), pages 393-411.
    3. Mizutani, Fumitoshi, 2020. "A comparison of vertical structural types in the railway industry: A simple mathematical explanation model," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    4. Avenali, Alessandro & Boitani, Andrea & Catalano, Giuseppe & D’Alfonso, Tiziana & Matteucci, Giorgio, 2016. "Assessing standard costs in local public bus transport: Evidence from Italy," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 164-174.
    5. Avenali, Alessandro & D'Alfonso, Tiziana & Leporelli, Claudio & Matteucci, Giorgio & Nastasi, Alberto & Reverberi, Pierfrancesco, 2015. "An incentive pricing mechanism for efficient airport slot allocation in Europe," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 27-36.
    6. D׳Annunzio, Anna & Reverberi, Pierfrancesco, 2016. "Co-investment in ultra-fast broadband access networks: Is there a role for content providers?," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(4), pages 353-367.
    7. Conti, Chiara & Reverberi, Pierfrancesco, 2021. "Price discrimination and product quality under opt-in privacy regulation," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    8. D’Annunzio, Anna, 2017. "Vertical integration in the TV market: Exclusive provision and program quality," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 114-144.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Briglauer Wolfgang & Frübing Stefan & Vogelsang Ingo, 2014. "The Impact of Alternative Public Policies on the Deployment of New Communications Infrastructure – A Survey," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 13(3), pages 227-270, September.
    2. Balmera, Roberto E. & Ünverb, Mehmet Bilal, 2016. "Cooperative investment in next generation broadband networks: A review of recent practical cases and literature," 27th European Regional ITS Conference, Cambridge (UK) 2016 148657, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    3. Tselekounis, Markos & Varoutas, Dimitris, 2013. "Investments in next generation access infrastructures under regulatory uncertainty," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(10), pages 879-892.
    4. Balmer, Roberto E., 2014. "Geographic regulation and cooperative investment in next generation broadband networks," 20th ITS Biennial Conference, Rio de Janeiro 2014: The Net and the Internet - Emerging Markets and Policies 106889, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    5. Balmera, Roberto E. & Ünverb, Mehmet Bilal, 2016. "Geographic regulation of next generation broadband networks: A review of practical cases and recent literature," 27th European Regional ITS Conference, Cambridge (UK) 2016 148656, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    6. Balmer, Roberto E., 2015. "Geographic regulation of next generation broadband networks: A review of practical cases and recent literature," 26th European Regional ITS Conference, Madrid 2015 127125, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    7. Manenti, Fabio M. & Scialà, Antonio, 2013. "Access regulation, entry and investments in telecommunications," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 450-468.
    8. Flacher, David & Jennequin, Hugues, 2014. "Access regulation and geographic deployment of a new generation infrastructure," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 741-759.
    9. Balmer, Roberto, 2013. "Geographic Regulation and Cooperative Investment in Next Generation Broadband Networks - A Review of Recent Literature and Practical Cases," MPRA Paper 54080, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Tselekounis, Markos & Varoutas, Dimitris & Martakos, Drakoulis, 2014. "A CDS approach to induce facilities-based competition over NGA networks," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 311-331.
    11. Balmer, Roberto E., 2015. "Cooperative investment in next generation broadband networks: A review of recent practical cases and literature," 26th European Regional ITS Conference, Madrid 2015 127124, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    12. Keizo Mizuno & Ichiro Yoshino, 2015. "Overusing a bypass under cost-based access regulation: underinvestment with spillovers," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 29-57, February.
    13. Cambini, Carlo & Silvestri, Virginia, 2013. "Investment sharing in broadband networks," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(10), pages 861-878.
    14. Ben Dkhil, Inès, 2014. "Regulation and Investment in Telecom Network Infrastructure Facilities: The Recent Developments and Debates," MPRA Paper 72910, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 02 Feb 2015.
    15. Lestage, Romain & Flacher, David, 2014. "Infrastructure investment and optimal access regulation in the different stages of telecommunications market liberalization," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(7), pages 569-579.
    16. Fabian Queder, 2020. "Towards a vertically separated broadband infrastructure: The potential role of voluntary separation," Competition and Regulation in Network Industries, , vol. 21(2), pages 143-165, June.
    17. Bourreau, Marc & Cambini, Carlo & Doğan, Pınar, 2012. "Access pricing, competition, and incentives to migrate from “old” to “new” technology," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 713-723.
    18. Vitor Miguel Ribeiro, 2018. "Dark fiber price regulation in the absence of facilities-based competition," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 45(2), pages 243-278, June.
    19. Ribeiro, Vitor Miguel, 2016. "Exclusion and regulatory intervention in investment sharing agreements," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 40(10), pages 1032-1051.
    20. Marc Bourreau & Pınar Doğan & Romain Lestage, 2014. "Level of access and infrastructure investment in network industries," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 46(3), pages 237-260, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Vertical integration; Vertical separation; Access pricing; Quality investment; High-speed broadband;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets
    • L22 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Organization and Market Structure
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation
    • L96 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Telecommunications
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:iepoli:v:28:y:2014:i:c:p:70-82. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/505549 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.