The threat of patent “hold-up”, in which patent holders demand compensation from implementers of technical standards following wide-scale adoption of those standards, has focused significant governmental, academic and industry attention on means for averting such scenarios. One method of...

The plan announced last week in Philadelphia to create a government-owned wireless broadband network isn't needed, is economically and technologically unsound and will put the city's taxpayers at great financial risk. The Wireless Philadelphia Business Plan promises (1) ubiquitous broadband...

In November 2000, Vodaphone (then J-Phone) introduced the world's first camera phone made by Sharp. It was an instant hit with Japanese youth. At the time, Vodaphone was Japan's number three service provider trailing the market leader DoCoMo, run by NTT, and the second place service provider au,...

Tragedy of the anti-commons occurs when property rules fail to enable efficient social coordination. In radio spectrum, rights issued to airwave users have traditionally been severely truncated, leaving gains from trade unexploited. The social losses that Ronald Coase (1959) asserted, appealing...

The case for regulating the Internet has not been made. Proposed rules mandating network neutrality are not in response to evidence of market failure or widespread consumer harm, could deter investment in broadband deployment, and raise First Amendment concerns. Regulatory advocates' assertions...

The goal of the COST Action IS0605 “Econ@Tel” is to develop a strategic research in the crossdisciplinary field of Telecommunication Economics. This includes a multitude of different dimensions, which include: (a) a training network among key people/organizations in order to enhance...

If there’s one thing Canadians agree on, it’s that Canada’s wireless industry can and should be more competitive. The federal government is on side with the policy objective of having four carriers in every region and has responded with policies that provide commercial advantages to...

Patent holders are, with increasing frequency, making public promises to refrain from asserting patents under certain conditions, or to license patents on terms that are “fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory” (FRAND). These promises or “patent pledges” generally precede formal license...

The evolution of cellular communications has been chronicled by the development and deployment of successive generations (“G”s) of wireless technologies. The transition to a new wireless technology is a very costly and often regulatory intensive process, and so there is a natural opposition...

The paradigm of the mobile ecosystem is rapidly changing, especially since the introduction of smart devices. New important players are emerging, and the scope of the mobile ecosystem is expanding and encroaching on the technological boundaries of other IT ecosystems. However, our understanding...