IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-00203512.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The cost of switching Internet providers in the broadband industry, or why ADSL has diffused faster than other innovative technologies: Evidence from the French case

Author

Listed:
  • Jackie Krafft

    (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - UNS - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (1965 - 2019) - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Evens Salies

    (OFCE - Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques (Sciences Po) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po)

Abstract

The innovative broadband Internet industry is characterised by inertia phenomena in terms of technology choice, as well as selection of Internet service providers (ISPs). Within the set of firms providing Internet, very often in Europe the incumbent operator has the lion's share of end-customers and supplies the dominant technology. Focusing on the French case, this paper shows that although inertia on the supply side (partly due to the regulation process in itself), helps to explain the technology mix reached to date, a more complete picture of the inertia can be obtained when we consider the existence of costs faced by customers when switching between ISPs. We calculate these so-called "switching costs". The closing section of this paper derives several implications in terms of policy.

Suggested Citation

  • Jackie Krafft & Evens Salies, 2008. "The cost of switching Internet providers in the broadband industry, or why ADSL has diffused faster than other innovative technologies: Evidence from the French case," Post-Print hal-00203512, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00203512
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-00203512
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hal.science/hal-00203512/document
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Malerba, Franco, 2002. "Sectoral systems of innovation and production," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 247-264, February.
    2. Nelson, Richard R. & Nelson, Katherine, 2002. "Technology, institutions, and innovation systems," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 265-272, February.
    3. Alleman, James & Rappoport, Paul, 2005. "Regulatory Failure: Time for a New Policy Paradigm," MPRA Paper 2517, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Freeman, Chris, 2002. "Continental, national and sub-national innovation systems--complementarity and economic growth," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 191-211, February.
    5. Yongmin Chen, 1997. "Paying Customers to Switch," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 6(4), pages 877-897, December.
    6. Klepper, Steven & Simons, Kenneth L., 2005. "Industry shakeouts and technological change," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 23(1-2), pages 23-43, February.
    7. Nicholas Economides, 1997. "The Economics of Networks," Brazilian Electronic Journal of Economics, Department of Economics, Universidade Federal de Pernambuco, vol. 1(0), December.
    8. Paul Klemperer, 1995. "Competition when Consumers have Switching Costs: An Overview with Applications to Industrial Organization, Macroeconomics, and International Trade," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 62(4), pages 515-539.
    9. Pavitt, K, 2001. "Public Policies to Support Basic Research: What Can the Rest of the World Learn from US Theory and Practice? (And What They Should Not Learn)," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 10(3), pages 761-779, September.
    10. Nicholas Economides, 2007. "Economics of the Internet," Working Papers 07-1, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics.
    11. Downes, Tom & Greenstein, Shane, 2002. "Universal access and local internet markets in the US," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(7), pages 1035-1052, September.
    12. Katz, Michael L & Shapiro, Carl, 1986. "Technology Adoption in the Presence of Network Externalities," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 94(4), pages 822-841, August.
    13. B. Douglas Bernheim & Michael D. Whinston, 1985. "Common Marketing Agency as a Device for Facilitating Collusion," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 16(2), pages 269-281, Summer.
    14. Joseph Farrell & Carl Shapiro, 1988. "Dynamic Competition with Switching Costs," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 19(1), pages 123-137, Spring.
    15. Angelique Augereau & Shane Greenstein & Marc Rysman, 2006. "Coordination versus differentiation in a standards war: 56K modems," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 37(4), pages 887-909, December.
    16. Green, Richard, 2000. "Can Competition Replace Regulation for Small Utility Customers?," CEPR Discussion Papers 2406, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    17. Suarez, Fernando F., 2004. "Battles for technological dominance: an integrative framework," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 271-286, March.
    18. Greenstein, Shane M, 1997. "Lock-in and the Costs of Switching Mainframe Computer Vendors: What Do Buyers See?," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 6(2), pages 247-273, March.
    19. Augereau, Angelique & Greenstein, Shane, 2001. "The need for speed in emerging communications markets: upgrades to advanced technology at Internet Service Providers," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 19(7), pages 1085-1102, July.
    20. Fagerberg, Jan & Verspagen, Bart, 2002. "Technology-gaps, innovation-diffusion and transformation: an evolutionary interpretation," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(8-9), pages 1291-1304, December.
    21. Shelanski, Howard A., 2005. "Inter-Modal Competition and Telecommunications Policy in the United States," MPRA Paper 2513, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    22. Shy, Oz, 2002. "A quick-and-easy method for estimating switching costs," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 20(1), pages 71-87, January.
    23. Agarwal, Rajshree & Gort, Michael, 1996. "The Evolution of Markets and Entry, Exit and Survival of Firms," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(3), pages 489-498, August.
    24. S. J. Liebowitz & Stephen E. Margolis, 1994. "Network Externality: An Uncommon Tragedy," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 8(2), pages 133-150, Spring.
    25. Klepper, Steven, 1997. "Industry Life Cycles," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 6(1), pages 145-181.
    26. Steven Klepper, 2002. "Firm Survival and the Evolution of Oligopoly," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 33(1), pages 37-61, Spring.
    27. Beggs, Alan, 1989. "A Note on Switching Costs and Technology Choice," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 37(4), pages 437-440, June.
    28. David Dranove & Neil Gandal, 2003. "The Dvd‐vs.‐Divx Standard War: Empirical Evidence of Network Effects and Preannouncement Effects," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(3), pages 363-386, September.
    29. Lundvall, Bengt-Ake & Johnson, Bjorn & Andersen, Esben Sloth & Dalum, Bent, 2002. "National systems of production, innovation and competence building," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 213-231, February.
    30. Metcalfe, J S, 1995. "Technology Systems and Technology Policy in an Evolutionary Framework," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 19(1), pages 25-46, February.
    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. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/53r60a8s3kup1vc9ji1hni539 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Antonelli, Cristiano & Krafft, Jackie & Quatraro, Francesco, 2010. "Recombinant knowledge and growth: The case of ICTs," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 50-69, March.
    3. Evens Salies, 2012. "Asymmetric switching costs can improve the predictive power of shy's model," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-01070341, HAL.
    4. Jackie Krafft & Francesco Quatraro & Pier Paolo Saviotti, 2014. "The Dynamics of Knowledge-intensive Sectors' Knowledge Base: Evidence from Biotechnology and Telecommunications," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(3), pages 215-242, April.
    5. Werner Hölzl, 2015. "Sunk costs and the speed of market selection," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 323-344, April.
    6. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/53r60a8s3kup1vc9ji1hni539 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Jackie Krafft & Francesco Quatraro & Pier-Paolo Saviotti, 2008. "Evolution of the knowledge base in knowledge intensive sectors," Working Papers hal-00264261, HAL.

    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. Krafft, Jackie & Salies, Evens, 2008. "The diffusion of ADSL and costs of switching Internet providers in the broadband industry: Evidence from the French case," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 706-719, May.
    2. Jackie Krafft & Evens Salies, 2006. "The cost of switching Internet providers in the French broadband industry, or why ADSL has diffused faster than other innovative technologies," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-00972799, HAL.
    3. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/962 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/962 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/962 is not listed on IDEAS
    6. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/962 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Jackie Krafft & Evens Salies, 2008. "Why and how should innovative industries with high consumer switching costs be re-regulated ?," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-00973051, HAL.
    8. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/6143 is not listed on IDEAS
    9. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/6143 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/6143 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Belleflamme,Paul & Peitz,Martin, 2015. "Industrial Organization," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781107687899, September.
    12. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/6143 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Bajmócy, Zoltán & Vas, Zsófia, 2012. "Az innovációs rendszerek 25 éve. Szakirodalmi áttekintés evolúciós közgazdaságtani megközelítésben [25 years of innovation systems. A literature review from the angle of evolutionary economics]," Közgazdasági Szemle (Economic Review - monthly of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences), Közgazdasági Szemle Alapítvány (Economic Review Foundation), vol. 0(11), pages 1233-1256.
    14. Fabio Manenti & Ernesto Somma, 2008. "One-Way Compatibility, Two-Way Compatibility and Entry in Network Industries," International Journal of the Economics of Business, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(3), pages 301-322.
    15. Oz Shy, 2011. "A Short Survey of Network Economics," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 38(2), pages 119-149, March.
    16. Daniel Birke, 2009. "The Economics Of Networks: A Survey Of The Empirical Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 23(4), pages 762-793, September.
    17. Kreutter, Peter & Stadtmann, Georg, 2009. "The Captives' End: Lebenszyklusmuster in der Entwicklung der deutschen IT-Outsourcing-Industrie," Research Notes 30, Deutsche Bank Research.
    18. Dosi, Giovanni & Nelson, Richard R., 2010. "Technical Change and Industrial Dynamics as Evolutionary Processes," Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, in: Bronwyn H. Hall & Nathan Rosenberg (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Innovation, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 51-127, Elsevier.
    19. Ron Martin & Peter Sunley, 2010. "The Place of Path Dependence in an Evolutionary Perspective on the Economic Landscape," Chapters, in: Ron Boschma & Ron Martin (ed.), The Handbook of Evolutionary Economic Geography, chapter 3, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    20. Baraldi, A. Laura, 2008. "Network Externalities and Critical Mass in the Mobile Telephone Network: a Panel Data Estimation," MPRA Paper 13373, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    21. Miguel Villas-Boas, J., 2015. "A short survey on switching costs and dynamic competition," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 219-222.
    22. Suleymanova Irina & Wey Christian, 2011. "Bertrand Competition in Markets with Network Effects and Switching Costs," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 11(1), pages 1-58, September.
    23. Michal Grajek, 2002. "Identification of Network Externalities in Markets for Non-Durables," CIG Working Papers FS IV 02-32, Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin (WZB), Research Unit: Competition and Innovation (CIG).
    24. Guy Arie & Paul E. Grieco, 2014. "Who pays for switching costs?," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 12(4), pages 379-419, December.
    25. Amante, Ana & Vareda, João, 2010. "Improving consumer mobility in the mobile voice services market: a comprehensive set of remedies," 21st European Regional ITS Conference, Copenhagen 2010: Telecommunications at new crossroads - Changing value configurations, user roles, and regulation 2, International Telecommunications Society (ITS).
    26. Havas, Attila, 2016. "Recent economic theorising on innovation: Lessons for analysing social innovation," MPRA Paper 77385, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    27. Verónica Robert & Gabriel Yoguel & Octavio Lerena, 2017. "The ontology of complexity and the neo-Schumpeterian evolutionary theory of economic change," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 27(4), pages 761-793, September.
    28. Carlos Ocaña Pérez de Tudela & Yolanda Polo & Francisco Javier Sesé, 2009. "Existencia y heterogeneidad de los costes de cambio en la industria de la Telefonía Móvil," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 191(4), pages 9-26, December.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:hal:journl:hal-00203512. 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: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    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.