IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/idt/journl/cs8607.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Wholesale Pricing, NGA Take-Up and Competition

Author

Listed:
  • Steffen HOERNIG

    (Nova School of Business and Economics)

  • Stephan JAY

    (WIK-Consult GmbH)

  • Werner NEU

    (WIK-Consult GmbH)

  • Karl-Heinz NEUMANN

    (WIK-Consult GmbH)

  • Thomas PLÜCKEBAUM

    (WIK-Consult GmbH)

  • Ingo VOGELSANG

    (Boston University)

Abstract

Our market modelling approach aims at practically determining wholesale pricing policies for the switch from copper to fibre access networks. It asks which market equilibria for incumbents and entrants result from different combinations of copper and fibre wholesale access charges. We first calculate the relevant costs and the cost drivers for a representative European country which we call "Euroland". Network costs are derived for the investor and for competitors who base their business model on purchasing access from the incumbent. The cost modelling results feed into a model of competition between copper and Fibre to the Home (FTTH) with multiple competitors in order to capture aspects of the transition from copper to FTTH. We show the impact of wholesale prices for copper and fibre access on competition, retail prices and investment. The incentives for a switch from copper to fibre are largely preserved by an equal absolute reduction of both copper and fibre access charges and they are increased if the copper access charge is reduced by more than the fibre access charge. We find in a relatively simple calibrated model of competition for broadband service that substantial care must be taken in regulating the prices of inputs which are substitutes. In this calibrated model, small errors in the absolute price difference between these (even when the absolute level of one or the other price is correctly set) can lead to suboptimal outcomes. Our central result is that significant fibre investment can only be expected if the structure and level of wholesale prices is properly balanced.

Suggested Citation

  • Steffen HOERNIG & Stephan JAY & Werner NEU & Karl-Heinz NEUMANN & Thomas PLÜCKEBAUM & Ingo VOGELSANG, 2012. "Wholesale Pricing, NGA Take-Up and Competition," Communications & Strategies, IDATE, Com&Strat dept., vol. 1(86), pages 153-174, 2nd quart.
    • Handle: RePEc:idt:journl:cs8607
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://repec.idate.org/RePEc/idt/journl/CS8607/CS86_HOERNIG_et_al.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. von Ungern-Sternberg, Thomas, 1991. "Monopolistic Competition on the Pyramid," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(4), pages 355-368, June.
    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. 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).
    2. Neumann, Karl-Heinz & Schmitt, Stephan & Schwab, Rolf, 2016. "Die Bedeutung von TAL-Preisen für den Aufbau von NGA," WIK Discussion Papers 404, WIK Wissenschaftliches Institut für Infrastruktur und Kommunikationsdienste GmbH.
    3. 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).
    4. Vogelsang Ingo, 2013. "The Endgame of Telecommunications Policy? A Survey," Review of Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 64(3), pages 193-270, December.
    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. Rajabiun, Reza & Middleton, Catherine, 2013. "Regulation, investment and efficiency in the transition to next generation networks: Evidence from the European Union," 24th European Regional ITS Conference, Florence 2013 88536, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    7. Stephan JAY & Karl-Heinz NEUMANN & Thomas PLÜCKEBAUM, 2012. "The Cost of Nationwide Fibre Access in Germany," Communications & Strategies, IDATE, Com&Strat dept., vol. 1(85), pages 169-188, 1st quart.
    8. Neumann, Karl-Heinz & Vogelsang, Ingo, 2013. "How to price the unbundled local loop in the transition from copper to fiber access networks?," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(10), pages 893-909.
    9. 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).
    10. 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.
    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).

    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. Weeds, Helen, 2012. "Superstars and the long tail: The impact of technology on market structure in media industries," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 60-68.
    2. Garcia-Gallego, Aurora & Georgantzis, Nikolaos, 2001. "Multiproduct activity in an experimental differentiated oligopoly," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 19(3-4), pages 493-518, March.
    3. Heijnen, Pim & Soetevent, Adriaan R., 2018. "Price competition on graphs," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 146(C), pages 161-179.
    4. Fraser Summerfield, 2016. "Matching Skill and Tasks: Cyclical Fluctuations in the Overqualification of New Hires," Working Paper series 16-08, Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis.
    5. Hoernig, Steffen, 2014. "Competition between multiple asymmetric networks: Theory and applications," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 57-69.
    6. Neumann, Karl-Heinz & Vogelsang, Ingo, 2013. "How to price the unbundled local loop in the transition from copper to fiber access networks?," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(10), pages 893-909.
    7. Hoernig, Steffen, 2011. "Asymmetric Broadband Wholesale Regulation," CEPR Discussion Papers 8399, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Lee, Dongyeol, 2015. "Regulating termination charges in asymmetric oligopolies," Information Economics and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 16-28.
    9. Wang, Tao & Wang, Ruqu, 2018. "A network-city model of spatial competition," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 168-170.
    10. Zach Y. Brown & Alexander MacKay, 2023. "Competition in Pricing Algorithms," American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(2), pages 109-156, May.
    11. Steffen Hoernig & Ingo Vogelsang, 2012. "The ambivalence of two-part tariffs for bottleneck access," Nova SBE Working Paper Series wp568, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Nova School of Business and Economics.
    12. Marco Alderighi & Claudio A. Piga, 2008. "The Circular City with Heterogeneous Firms," Discussion Paper Series 2008_03, Department of Economics, Loughborough University, revised Jul 2008.
    13. Braid, Ralph M., 1998. "Spatial price competition when stores are not certain to have what consumers want," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 143-161, March.
    14. Brito, Duarte, 2003. "Preemptive mergers under spatial competition," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 21(10), pages 1601-1622, December.
    15. Hoernig, Steffen & Jay, Stephan & Neumann, Karl-Heinz & Peitz, Martin & Plückebaum, Thomas & Vogelsang, Ingo, 2012. "The impact of different fibre access network technologies on cost, competition and welfare," Telecommunications Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 96-112.
    16. Paulo Somaini & Liran Einav, 2013. "A Model of Market Power in Customer Markets," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(4), pages 938-986, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Next Generation Access; FTTH; cost modelling; GPON; P2P; competition; welfare;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • L96 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Telecommunications
    • L5 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy
    • L51 - Industrial Organization - - Regulation and Industrial Policy - - - Economics of Regulation

    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:idt:journl:cs8607. 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: BLAVIER Thomas The email address of this maintainer does not seem to be valid anymore. Please ask BLAVIER Thomas to update the entry or send us the correct address (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/idatefr.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.