Government Regulation in the Wireless Telecommunications Industry: The Impact of Wireless Number Portability

• Main Author: Pemberton, Anne
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Boston College 2013
• Subjects: wireless; telecommunications; competition; regulation
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2345/3077

Thesis advisor: Frank Gollop === By November 2003, wireless telecommunications operators were required by the FCC to have implemented wireless number portability. The FCC and the media claimed that this decrease in the cost of switching would force operators to react competitively by either decreasing prices or increasing the services offered at the same price to prevent customers from migrating to competitors. This paper empirically analyzes the effect that this regulation had on plan prices offered by the top four U.S. cellular operators over the period of Q2 2002 through Q2 2008, identifying whether they increased or decreased and by how much. This paper concludes that three out of the four nationwide carriers lowered prices in response to the implementation of wireless number portability. === Thesis (BA) — Boston College, 2013. === Submitted to: Boston College. College of Arts and Sciences. === Discipline: Economics Honors Program. === Discipline: College Honors Program. === Discipline: Economics.