Estimating the potential increase in consumer welfare from the introduction of 'Super Wi-Fi' service

With the increasing use of smart devices recently, mobile traffic has been increasing rapidly, which in turn results in greater demand for the frequency.Many countries have attempted to use the vacant frequencies known as TV White Space (TVWS) in an effort tosolve the frequencyproblem. Super Wi-Fi service,a wireless Internet service based on TVWS, is one of the waysTVWSis being utilized. This paper applies conjoint analysis to evaluate consumers’willingness to pay for each of the attributes of Super Wi-Fi service and estimateshow much consumer welfare could be improve by the introduction of Super Wi-Fi service. The attributes of Super Wi-Fi service are coverage,areduction incommunication expenses when using mobile data, the ability to use multiple-screens, and a wide rangeof Wi-Fi service providers. The results based on user surveys indicatedthatthemarginal willingness to pay (MWTP)amountper month for Super Wi-Fi service is KRW 4,717 (USD 4.6). Moreover,theMWTPamount innon-urban areas for this service is greater than that inurban areas, implying that the introduction of Super Wi-Fi service is expected to increase consumer welfare, especiallyinnon-urban areas.