IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/3248.html

Bargaining Over Fixed-to-Mobile Termination Rates in the Shadow of the Regulator

Author

Listed:
  • Binmore, Ken
  • Harbord, David

Abstract

The conventional wisdom that mobile operators are able to act as monopolists in pricing call termination on their networks has recently been challenged by Hutchison 3G’s entry into European mobile markets. The European Commission’s electronic communications regime allows national regulatory authorities to regulate mobile termination rates if an operator is found to possess “significant market power”. This requires that the mobile operator not be constrained by the "countervailing buyer power" of incumbents. The claim that incumbent operators possess countervailing buyer power has been repeatedly dismissed because of their obligation to interconnect with other networks. This conclusion is erroneous. We analyse bargaining over fixed-to-mobile termination rates and demonstrate that the existence of an interconnectivity obligation is entirely consistent with new entrants such as Hutchison 3G having no market power at all in pricing call termination on their own networks.

Suggested Citation

  • Binmore, Ken & Harbord, David, 2005. "Bargaining Over Fixed-to-Mobile Termination Rates in the Shadow of the Regulator," MPRA Paper 3248, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:3248
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/3248/1/MPRA_paper_3248.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/3622/1/MPRA_paper_3622.pdf
    File Function: revised version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. 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.
    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. Cunningham, Brendan M. & Alexander, Peter J. & Candeub, Adam, 2010. "Network growth: Theory and evidence from the mobile telephone industry," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 91-102, March.

    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. 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. Gual, Jordi, 2003. "Market Definition in the Telecoms Industry," CEPR Discussion Papers 3988, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    3. 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.
    4. Viktória Kocsis, 2005. "Network Asymmetries and Access Pricing in Cellular Telecommunications," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 05-085/1, Tinbergen Institute.
    5. Massey, Patrick, 2004. "Is Irish Utility Regulation Failing Consumers?," Quarterly Economic Commentary: Special Articles, Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), vol. 2004(4-Winter), pages 1-18.
    6. Major, Iván & Kiss, Károly Miklós, 2007. "A közszolgáltatások ösztönző szabályozása. Hálózatos szolgáltatások összekapcsolási díja [Stimulatory regulation in public services. The connection price of network services]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(2), pages 101-124.
    7. Daniel Björkegren, 2022. "Competition in network industries: Evidence from the Rwandan mobile phone network," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 53(1), pages 200-225, March.
    8. 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.
    9. Andreas Haller & Christian Jaag & Urs Trinkner, 2013. "Termination charges in the international parcel market," Chapters, in: Michael A. Crew & Paul R. Kleindorfer (ed.), Reforming the Postal Sector in the Face of Electronic Competition, chapter 19, pages 277-293, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    10. Ginés de Rus & Javier Campos & Daniel Graham & M. Pilar Socorro & Jorge Valido, 2020. "Evaluación Económica de Proyectos y Políticas de Transporte: Metodología y Aplicaciones. Parte 1: Metodología para el análisis coste-beneficio de proyectos y políticas de transporte," Working Papers 2020-11, FEDEA.
    11. Dejan Trifunović & Đorđe Mitrović, 2016. "Price Discrimination, Entry, And Switching Costs In Network Competition," Economic Annals, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Belgrade, vol. 61(209), pages 129-160, April - J.
    12. 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.
    13. Kocsis, Viktória, 2005. "A hálózatok közötti aszimmetria hatása a mobilszolgáltatók végződtetési díjára [The effect of asymmetry among networks on the provision charges of mobile telephone services]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(7), pages 663-685.
    14. Marco Bertini & Daniel Halbheer & Oded Koenigsberg, 2012. "Self-Serving Behavior in Price-Quality Competition," Working Papers hal-01993405, HAL.
    15. Bipasa Datta & Yu-Shan Lo, 2013. "To Block or not to Block? Network Competition when Skype enters the Mobile Market," Discussion Papers 13/32, Department of Economics, University of York.
    16. Jahn, Eric & Prüfer, Jens, 2008. "Interconnection and competition among asymmetric networks in the Internet backbone market," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 243-256, September.
    17. Joo, Ji-Ho & Ku, Hyeon-Mo & Kim, Jae-Cheol, 2001. "Optimal access pricing with interconnection obligation," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 331-338, September.
    18. Øystein Foros & Bjørn Hansen & Thibaud Vergé, 2023. "Co-operative investment by downstream rivals: network sharing in telecom markets," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 64(1), pages 34-47, December.
    19. Nolan, James & Fulton, Murray, 2001. "Competitive Access: The Next Step for the Canadian Rail Industry?," Journal of the Transportation Research Forum, Transportation Research Forum, vol. 40(2).
    20. Edmond Baranes & Cuong Huong Vuong, 2012. "Policy Implications of Asymmetric Termination Rate Regulation in Europe," Chapters, in: Gerald R. Faulhaber & Gary Madden & Jeffrey Petchey (ed.), Regulation and the Performance of Communication and Information Networks, chapter 14, Edward Elgar Publishing.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • D43 - Microeconomics - - Market Structure, Pricing, and Design - - - Oligopoly and Other Forms of Market Imperfection
    • C78 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Bargaining Theory; Matching Theory
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation
    • K23 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law - - - Regulated Industries and Administrative Law

    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:pra:mprapa:3248. 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: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    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.