Research: The Cost Of Text-Messaging
Text Message Price Gouging: A Perfect Storm of Tacit Collusion
Journal on Telecommunications and High Technology Law
Colorado University School of Law
Per Larsen
2010
Larsen paints a picture of a cellular industry that is overcharging for what is today a common feature in cell phones — text-messaging. In 2007, the service is thought to have generated revenue of $60 billion to $80 billion worldwide. Larsen believes the industry has convinced the FCC that text services have adequate competition and has convinced consumers that text messages are a premium product in order to deter complaints about pricing structures.
Larsen’s article covers the following general areas:
- Text-messaging prices
- Market background
- Competitive, monopoly and oligopoly markets
- Antitrust issues
- FCC regulation
The author’s research on text-messaging price comparisons is in depth and compares voice and short-message service transmission, which will be extremely insightful for readers interested in understanding the technology behind sending and receiving such data. He explains that the amount of data transferred in a text message is about a fourth the size of one second of voice data transferred, and he provides cost charts for comparison.
The full article is here.
We need to be rational about this.
http://www.digitalsociety.org/2009/09/being-rational-about-text-message-pricing/
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