Abstract
By not requiring expensive licenses, unlicensed spectrum lowers the barriers for firms to offer wireless services. However, incumbent firms may still try to erect other entry barriers. For example, recent work has highlighted how customer contracts may be used as one such barrier by penalizing customers for switching to a new entrant. However, this work did not account for another potential benefit of unlicensed spectrum, having access to this open resource may incentivize entrants to invest in new and potentially better technology. This paper studies the interaction of contracts and the incentives of firms to invest in developing new technology. We use a game theoretic model to study this and characterize the effect of contracts on economic welfare. The role of subsidies or taxes by a social planner is also considered.
| Original language | English (US) |
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| Title of host publication | INFOCOM 2018 - IEEE Conference on Computer Communications |
| Publisher | Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc. |
| Pages | 1925-1933 |
| Number of pages | 9 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9781538641286 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 8 2018 |
| Event | 2018 IEEE Conference on Computer Communications, INFOCOM 2018 - Honolulu, United States Duration: Apr 15 2018 → Apr 19 2018 |
Publication series
| Name | Proceedings - IEEE INFOCOM |
|---|---|
| Volume | 2018-April |
| ISSN (Print) | 0743-166X |
Other
| Other | 2018 IEEE Conference on Computer Communications, INFOCOM 2018 |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | United States |
| City | Honolulu |
| Period | 4/15/18 → 4/19/18 |
Funding
This research was supported in part by NSF grants TWC-1314620, AST-1343381, AST-1547328 and CNS-1701921.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Computer Science
- Electrical and Electronic Engineering