 To share or not to share? The impact of mobile network sharing for consumers and operatorsPantelis Koutroumpis, Pau Castells and Kalvin Bahia Information Economics and Policy, 2023, vol. 65, issue C Abstract: This paper assesses the impact of mobile network sharing in Europe during the 2000-2019 period, looking at 140 mobile operators in 29 countries. We find that - consistent with economic theory - network sharing generated significant benefits for operators and consumers, including lower prices and improved network coverage and quality. This was driven by cost reductions, higher returns on investment and increased competition. These effects materialized heterogeneously, with the impact of network sharing depending on the type of sharing, the technology cycle in which it is entered into as well as the market position and size of the operators entering the agreement. This has important implications going forward as it shows that network sharing can play a vital role in the deployment of new 5G networks and that the technological and market specificity of each type of sharing agreement can significantly affect its outcomes. Keywords: Network sharing; Infrastructure sharing; Mobile communications; Network competition (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:iepoli:v:65:y:2023:i:c:s016762452300046x DOI: 10.1016/j.infoecopol.2023.101061 Access Statistics for this article Information Economics and Policy is currently edited by D. Waterman More articles in Information Economics and Policy from Elsevier |
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