Empirical evidence on the relationship between mobile termination rates and firms’ profit

Posted by D. Daniel Sokol

Kjetil Andersson (University of Agder), Oystein Foros (NHH Norwegian School of Economics) and Bjorn Hansen (Telenor) offer Empirical evidence on the relationship between mobile termination rates and firms’ profit

ABSTRACT: The comprehensive theoretical literature on mobile termination rates (MTRs) is inconclusive on how the level of MTRs affects overall consumer charges and firms’ profit. In a theoretical model, well suited for econometric implementation, we show that where consumers buy a bundle with included usage, as we now observe in the market, the level of MTRs has no impact on retail prices and firms’ profit. We use a panel data set from saturated European markets and find that an identical change in MTRs does not have a significant impact on firms’ profit.