Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
4973328 | Telecommunications Policy | 2016 | 15 Pages |
Abstract
Our study focuses on the identification and measurement of switching costs and local network effects in mobile telecommunications. As these two phenomena are the two components of consumer lock-in, omitting one of them likely results in biased estimates of the second, limiting applicability to policy relevant questions. Yet, there have been only a few attempts to integrate them into one model of subscriber behavior. Our study adds to this stream of research by applying a discrete choice experiment designed specifically to model subscription choices on a representative sample of mobile phone users in Poland. We find that the effective prices of calls appear to be a major determinant of operator choice. Switching costs continue to affect consumer behavior despite the introduction of number portability. Local network effects represent a smaller, albeit significant, component of consumer lock-in. Subscribers are heterogeneous with respect to the magnitudes of both lock-in components.
Keywords
Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering
Computer Science
Information Systems
Authors
MikoÅaj Czajkowski, Maciej Sobolewski,