We examine the interrelation between interconnection and competition in the Internet backbone market. Networks that are asymmetric in size choose among different interconnection regimes and compete for end-users. We show that a direct interconnection regime, peering, softens competition as compared to indirect interconnection since asymmetries become less influential when networks peer. If inte...

Since 2008, multiple smartphone platforms have launched versions of “app stores”, marketplaces where consumers can purchase and download software applications for their smartphone. This paper provides evidence for both demand and supply of “apps” using data on the size and composition of smartphone user bases and of the apps available for competing platforms. Results from the estimation of a st...

This paper analyses whether scale economies exists in the UK telecommunications industry. The approach employed differs from other UK studies in that panel data for a range of companies is used. This increases the number of observations and thus allows potentially for more robust tests for global subadditivity of the cost function. The main findings from the study reveal that although the resul...

This paper examines the first 16 months of competition in the German market for long-distance voice telephony on the fixed network. It concentrates on price level and price structure. Competition induced by the entry of both network operators and switch-based service providers decreased the price level substantially. Furthermore, after initial attempts to design innovative price structures, mos...

This article examines the problem of regulatory opportunism or strategic behavior by the regulator that undermines the performance of price cap regulation (PCR) without technically breaching the price cap commitment. Drawing from the experience with PCR in the telecommunications industry, this article contends that the Hope standard, a litmus test for governing the bounds of regulatory discreti...

This essay analyzes the long-term lessons of the recent upturn and downturn in the telecommunications industry. It concludes that volatility and cyclicality will be an inherent part of the telecom sector in the future. To deal with such instabilities, companies and investors seek consolidation and cooperation. Government, too, is likely to stress stability more than before. Hence, an oligopoly ...

The extent to which society benefits from an upgrade to a telecommunications network infrastructure depends on when that upgrade occurs. This paper discusses a proactive pricing approach in which the regulator defines a pricing policy to induce a profit-seeking monopoly carrier to upgrade the infrastructure at the socially desirable time. We discuss how the regulator can determine the optimal t...

This paper analyses how different types of access regulation to next generation networks affect investments and consumer welfare. The model consists of an investment stage with uncertain returns and subsequent quantity competition. The access price is a function of investment costs and the regulatory regime. A regime with fully distributed costs or regulatory holiday induces highest investments...

This paper studies the efficient pricing of termination services for calls that are made to Internet service providers (ISPs). A model is presented in which an incumbent phone network is obligated to provide local calls at a regulated per-minute price while entrant carriers compete to terminate ISP-bound calls. This model is used to understand the problems of regulatory arbitrage that arise whe...

This paper analyses how contractual arrangements for the sale and resale of premium programming affect competition in the pay-TV market. Competition is less effective when resale contracts specify per-subscriber fees rather than lump-sum payments. When premium programming is sold at terms similar to those observed in the UK, consumers can be made worse off than in the absence of premium program...