Title: Regulation of competition and access of mobile virtual network operators

Authors: Michele Grimaldi; Livio Cricelli; Nathan Levialdi Ghiron

Addresses: Faculty of Engineering, University of Cassino, Via G. Di Biasio, Cassino (FR), Italy ' Faculty of Engineering, University of Cassino, Via G. Di Biasio, Cassino (FR), Italy ' Faculty of Engineering, University of Rome 'Tor Vergata' Viale del Politecnico, Roma, Italy

Abstract: Mobile termination rate, degree of asymmetry, and degree of substitutability are the elements which mostly characterise the mobile telecommunication market complexity. However, if mobile termination rate is considered as a primary item to be examined and regulated, the degrees of asymmetry and substitutability which characterise and define the structural aspects of the market are often not considered as strategic variable for the market competition. In this paper, a model has been defined to analyse the strategic consequences of the regulatory interventions on modalities about the adoption of mobile termination rates. The analysis of the results obtained by the model, based on numerical simulations, has been focused on retail price strategies, market shares erosion, and profit allotment of real and virtual mobile operators under variations of economic and structural characteristics, in the attempt of providing suggestions for decision, strategic and regulatory process.

Keywords: mobile termination rate; regulatory intervention; competition modelling; network asymmetry; network substitutability; mobile virtual network operators; mobile networks; virtual networks; numerical simulation; retail price strategies; market shares erosion; profit allotment.

DOI: 10.1504/IJTPM.2013.054877

International Journal of Technology, Policy and Management, 2013 Vol.13 No.3, pp.207 - 225

Received: 16 Jun 2012
Accepted: 14 Aug 2012
Published online: 30 Sep 2014 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article