抄録

情報通信技術の急速な発達によって,電気通信産業は競争的市場に移行しつつあると言われる.料金規制は撤廃され,新規参入は自由化されている.しかし,このことは通信産業が政府規制から完全に解放されたことを意味しない.特に,双方向のネットワーク・アクセスとネットワーク間競争によって特徴付けられる移動体通信分野は,相互接続料金,戦略的な価格差別化といった新しい課題に直面している.日本の携帯電話市場では,総括原価に基づくオープン・アクセスが制度化されている一方,間接的なネットワークの外部性をもたらす着信者別価格差別化については一切の規制がない.本稿の実証分析は,着信者別差別化料金が消費者のキャリア選択に有意に影響していることを示している.従って,競争政策の観点からは,こうした価格差別化を規制する必要性があり,小売料金規制がなければ,市場シェアの大きな既存キャリアが市場を占有してしまう恐れがある.

abstract

Due to rapid technological progress in information and communications, thetelecommunications industry seems to be becoming more competitive. Prices are deregulated and new entry is liberalized. However, it does not mean that the telecommunications industry could be free of regulation. Particularly, the mobile telecommunications, which are essentially based on twoway interconnection of networks and characterized by network competition, are faced with new problems of reciprocal access charges and strategic discriminatory pricing. In the Japanese cellular phone market, open access with regulated cost-based access charges was institutionalized, but there is no restriction on termination-based price discrimination, which generates indirect network externalities. It is empirically found that termination-based discriminatory pricing has a significant effect on consumers'subscription decision, implying that such discrimination should be regulated from the viewpoint of competition policy". Otherwise, an incumbent carrier who is market-dominant would monopolize the market.