[...]... Access Service Provider Pricing Communication Networks: Economics, Technology and Modelling Costas Courcoubetis and Richard Weber Copyright  2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd ISBN: 0-4 7 0-8 513 0-9 Part A Networks Pricing Communication Networks: Economics, Technology and Modelling Costas Courcoubetis and Richard Weber Copyright  2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd ISBN: 0-4 7 0-8 513 0-9 1 Pricing and Communications Networks.. . 9.1–9.4, and Chapter 10 2 An advanced course on mathematical modelling and pricing: Section 1.4, Chapter 2, Sections 3.1–3.3 and 3.5, Chapter 4, Sections 5.1–5.4, 5.6, 6.1–6.3, Chapters 8, 9 and 10 3 A course on telecoms policy issues and regulation: Chapter 1, Sections 2.1, 3.2–3.6, Chapters 5 and 6, Sections 7.1–7.1.2, 7.3–7.5, Chapters 12 and 13, Sections 14.1– 14.1.3, 14.2 and 14.3 4 A course on game-theoretic... demand Such pricing schemes are far more complex than simple flat fee schemes and hence raise questions of feasibility Users 14 PRICING AND COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS facing such complex schemes may be deterred from using the network services and slow the expansion of the Internet Should we sacrifice short-term network efficiency to increase the extremely valuable long-term demand for new network services and. .. understand the relation of economics and communications We do not claim to provide a complete unifying framework, but explain many concepts that are generic to the problem of pricing This is not a ‘how to price’ recipe book Rather, it explores relevant subjects It provides the basic models and terminology needed for a non-specialist reader to understand subtle topics where technology, information and. .. have created a new and highly competitive environment for communication service providers Both technology and economics play a major role in this new environment As recent events in the marketplace make clear, the success of a communication services business is not guaranteed by new technology alone An important part of any business plan for selling communications services is pricing and competition issues... Economics and Operation Research, telecoms engineers, researchers and engineers who work in research and industrial laboratories, and marketing staff in telecoms companies who need to understand better the technology issues and their relation to pricing Our experience is that most of these people have only part of the background needed to follow such important subjects Readers with engineering and OR... the communications industry It looks at factors that influence pricing decisions in this industry, and some differing and conflicting approaches to pricing Section 1.1 is about the market for communications services Section 1.2 is about present developments in the marketplace Section 1.3 is about issues that pricing must address Section 1.4 presents some introductory modelling 1.1 The market for communications... of the impact of communications services, the pricing of these services must play an important role Of course a price must be charged for something if service providers are to recover their costs and remain in business But this is only one of the many important reasons for pricing To understand pricing s other roles we must consider what type of product are communications services and the characteristics... them This makes the network simple and cheap Indeed, the Internet is optimized to be as efficient as possible and to obey the ‘end-to-end principle’ To understand this principle, consider the function: ‘recovery from information loss’ This means something different for file transfer and Internet radio The end-to-end principle says that if such a function is invoked rarely, and is not common to all data traffic,... about communications technology and usually underestimate its importance We have sought to write in a way that all readers will find stimulating The book should interest anyone with some technology and mathematics background who wishes to understand the close relation of communication networks and economics Of course, economists may skip the chapters on basic economics When we started this book, ATM technology . Pricing Communication Networks Pricing Communication Networks: Economics, Technology and Modelling. Costas Courcoubetis and Richard Weber Copyright  2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. ISBN: 0-4 7 0-8 513 0-9 WILEY- INTERSCIENCE. Provider Part A Networks Pricing Communication Networks: Economics, Technology and Modelling. Costas Courcoubetis and Richard Weber Copyright  2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. ISBN: 0-4 7 0-8 513 0-9 . Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Courcoubetis, Costas. Pricing communication networks : economics, technology, and modelling / Costas Courcoubetis, Richard Weber. p. cm.— (Wiley- Interscience