On 4 September 2019, Cullen International hosted a seminar on zero rating. Three different studies issued by the OECD, the Austrian regulator RTR and Epicenter.works were presented by their authors.
This event has passedVerena Weber - OECD study on the effects of zero rating
The report looks at the economics of zero rating and issues such as the effects of zero rating on competition and innovation. It takes the view that the welfare effects of zero rating on consumers can be favourable or unfavourable. It recommends that regulators and policy makers are alive to both the benefits and the risks associated with zero rating practices, and that in deciding their approach they have regard to the level of competition in both content and ISP markets.
András Róbert Király and Anton Schwarz – RTR study on Zero-Rating in the EU - An empirical investigation into the effects on data caps and prices in 15 countries
The report presents the results of a massive empirical study on the effects of zero-rating on data plans (volumes and prices) in 15 EU countries. It uses tariff-level information (including information on zero-rating) for more than 11,000 tariffs of 53 mobile network operators (MNOs) over the period 2015-2018 in order to investigate the effects of zero-rating on data caps, prices and prices per unit of included data. The authors conclude that there does not seem to be a systematic effect of zero- rating on other tariff characteristics such as included data, price and price per GB. Rather, the effect seems to vary across countries, periods and categories of applications.
Thomas Lohninger – epicenter.works study on The Net Neutrality Situation in the EU - Evaluation of the First Two Years of Enforcement
The presentation of the study focused on quantitative as well as geographical occurrences of differential pricing offers (zero-rating and application-specific data volume). Based on a full survey of such offerings in the EEA (+Switzerland) as well as the geographical localisation of participating CAPs, the authors present a comprehensive picture on the top beneficiary CAPs of such arrangements, as well as the typology and quantification of such practices. Additional information on roaming policies and utilized identification technologies for participating applications complement the picture. The study was supported by the Austrian Federal Chamber of Labour and the Mozilla Foundation. The full dataset is available under a free license.
Prof Axel Gautier (University of Liège) - Discussion with participants
Debate between panellists and the audience
contact information
For more information about this event, please contact:
Philippe Defraigne
phd@cullen-international.com