IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/indorg/v47y2016icp152-185.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

International network competition under national regulation

Author

Listed:
  • Tangerås, Thomas P.
  • Tåg, Joacim

Abstract

We extend the workhorse model of network competition to international calls. This model enables us to show that national regulatory authorities (NRAs) maximizing domestic welfare have incentives to increase termination rates above the social optimum to extract rent from international call termination. Excessive termination rates distort prices but transfer surplus from foreign to domestic consumers via intensified network competition. The model can explain the regulation of termination rates through rate floors. International network ownership and deregulation are alternatives to combat the incentives of NRAs to distort termination rates. We identify conditions under which each of these policies increases aggregate welfare.

Suggested Citation

  • Tangerås, Thomas P. & Tåg, Joacim, 2016. "International network competition under national regulation," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 152-185.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:indorg:v:47:y:2016:i:c:p:152-185
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijindorg.2016.04.006
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167718716300248
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.ijindorg.2016.04.006?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. Mark Armstrong & Julian Wright, 2009. "Mobile Call Termination," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(538), pages 270-307, June.
    2. 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.
    3. Christos Genakos & Tommaso Valletti, 2011. "Testing The “Waterbed” Effect In Mobile Telephony," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 9(6), pages 1114-1142, December.
    4. Sjaak Hurkens & Ángel L. López, 2014. "Mobile Termination, Network Externalities and Consumer Expectations," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 124(579), pages 1005-1039, September.
    5. Armstrong, Mark, 1998. "Network Interconnection in Telecommunications," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 108(448), pages 545-564, May.
    6. Doh-Shin Jeon & Jean-Jacques Laffont & Jean Tirole, 2004. "On the Receiver-Pays Principle," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 35(1), pages 85-110, Spring.
    7. Christos Genakos & Tommaso Valletti, 2015. "Evaluating a Decade of Mobile Termination Rate Regulation," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 125(586), pages 31-48, August.
    8. Jean-Jacques Laffont & Patrick Rey & Jean Tirole, 1998. "Network Competition: II. Price Discrimination," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 29(1), pages 38-56, Spring.
    9. Gans, Joshua S. & King, Stephen P., 2001. "Using 'bill and keep' interconnect arrangements to soften network competition," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 71(3), pages 413-420, June.
    10. Hakim, Sam Ramsey & Lu, Ding, 1993. "Monopolistic settlement agreements in international telecommunications," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 5(2), pages 145-157, July.
    11. Wright, Julian, 1999. "International Telecommunications, Settlement Rates, and the FCC," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 267-291, May.
    12. Paolo Lupi & Fabio M. Manenti, 2009. "Traffic Management In Wholesale International Roaming: Towards A More Efficient Market?," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(4), pages 379-407, October.
    13. Laurent BENZONI & Bruno DEFFAINS & Anh Tuc NGUYEN & Olivier SALESSE, 2011. "Competitive Dynamics Between MNOs in the Mobile Telecommunications Single Market: Lessons from the U.S. Experience," Communications & Strategies, IDATE, Com&Strat dept., vol. 1(82), pages 127-145, 2nd quart.
    14. Oecd, 2014. "International Traffic Termination," OECD Digital Economy Papers 238, OECD Publishing.
    15. Jakopin, Nejc M., 2008. "Internationalisation in the telecommunications services industry: Literature review and research agenda," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(8), pages 531-544, September.
    16. Salsas, Roger & Koboldt, Christian, 2004. "Roaming free?: Roaming network selection and inter-operator tariffs," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 497-517, December.
    17. Peitz, Martin & Waldfogel, Joel, 2012. "The Oxford Handbook of the Digital Economy," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195397840.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Ángel L. López & Patrick Rey, 2016. "Foreclosing Competition Through High Access Charges and Price Discrimination," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(3), pages 436-465, September.
    2. Hawthorne, Ryan, 2018. "The effects of lower mobile termination rates in South Africa," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 42(5), pages 374-385.
    3. Hurkens, Sjaak & López, Ángel L., 2012. "The welfare effects of mobile termination rate regulation in asymmetric oligopolies: The case of Spain," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 369-381.
    4. Hoernig, Steffen, 2014. "Competition between multiple asymmetric networks: Theory and applications," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 57-69.
    5. Lee, Dongyeol, 2015. "Regulating termination charges in asymmetric oligopolies," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 16-28.
    6. Rohit Prasad & Rupamanjari Ray, 2015. "The relation of traffic balance and network size: a case from the indian mobile industry," Netnomics, Springer, vol. 16(3), pages 149-167, December.
    7. Sjaak Hurkens & Ángel Luis López, 2010. "Mobile Termination and Consumer Expectations under the Receiver-Pays Regime," Working Papers 10-12, NET Institute.
    8. Agostini, Claudio A. & Willington, Manuel & Lazcano, Raúl & Saavedra, Eduardo, 2017. "Predation and network based price discrimination in Chile," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(9), pages 781-791.
    9. Jullien, Bruno & Rey, Patrick & Sand-Zantman, Wilfried, 2013. "Termination fees revisited," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 31(6), pages 738-750.
    10. Sjaak Hurkens & Angel L. Lopez, 2014. "Who Should Pay for Two-Way Interconnection?," Working Papers 774, Barcelona School of Economics.
    11. Ángel L. López & Patrick Rey, 2009. "Foreclosing Competition through Access Charges and Price Discrimination," Working Papers 2009.99, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    12. Thomas P. Tangerås, 2014. "Network competition with income effects," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 45(3), pages 645-673, September.
    13. Joan Calzada & Francesc Trillas, 2005. "The interconnection prices in telecomunications: from theory to practice," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 173(2), pages 85-125, June.
    14. 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.
    15. Hurkens, Sjaak & Jeon, Doh-Shin, 2012. "Promoting network competition by regulating termination charges," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 541-552.
    16. Genakos, Christos & Valletti, Tommaso, 2012. "Regulating prices in two-sided markets: The waterbed experience in mobile telephony," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(5), pages 360-368.
    17. Berger, Ulrich, 2005. "Bill-and-keep vs. cost-based access pricing revisited," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 86(1), pages 107-112, January.
    18. Mark Armstrong & Julian Wright, 2009. "Mobile Call Termination," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 119(538), pages 270-307, June.
    19. Harbord, David & Hoernig, Steffen, 2010. "Welfare Analysis of Regulating Mobile Termination Rates in the UK (with an Application to the Orange/T-Mobile Merger)," MPRA Paper 21515, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Peitz, Martin & Valletti, Tommaso M. & Wright, Julian, 2004. "Competition in telecommunications: an introduction," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 315-321, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Conglomerate merger; International markets; National regulation; Network competition; Telecommunications; Termination rates;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation
    • L96 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Telecommunications

    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:indorg:v:47:y:2016:i:c:p:152-185. 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/505551 .

    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.