Usage-Based Pricing and Demand for Residential Broadband

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Nevo, Aviv; Turner, John L.; Williams, Jonathan W.
• 署名单位: Northwestern University; National Bureau of Economic Research; University System of Georgia; University of Georgia; University of North Carolina; University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
• 刊物名称: ECONOMETRICA
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0012-9682
• DOI: 10.3982/ECTA11927
• 发表日期: 2016
• 页码: 411-443
• 关键词: consumer; CHOICE; uncertainty; models; sales; plan

摘要

We estimate demand for residential broadband using high-frequency data from subscribers facing a three-part tariff. The three-part tariff makes data usage during the billing cycle a dynamic problem, thus generating variation in the (shadow) price of usage. We provide evidence that subscribers respond to this variation, and we use their dynamic decisions to estimate a flexible distribution of willingness to pay for different plan characteristics. Using the estimates, we simulate demand under alternative pricing and find that usage-based pricing eliminates low-value traffic. Furthermore, we show that the costs associated with investment in fiber-optic networks are likely recoverable in some markets, but that there is a large gap between social and private incentives to invest.