The communications and information economy: issues, tariffs and economics research areas

Abstract This survey paper analyses some of the fundamental economic issues concerning the communications and information economy. The first highlighted major trends are the balkanisation of the communications networks, and the advent of competitive tariffs. This leads to a move away from time- and distance-based charges to tariffs covering bandwidth, service, and contents use. It is noted that very few resources have gone into the analysis of that sector and its inter-relations with others. The paper advocates for more visibility and research into the unique aspects of the communications and information sector. It does so by making an inventory of key economics and computational economics research issues in need of contributions, selected from the following areas: • public communications infrastructure and tariffing principles, • sales of communications services, • public access and equal access policies, • competitive access pricing, • communications industry finance, • engineering-economic studies, • information contents, • macroeconomic issues. Finally, the specific aspects of models of the communications and media sector are addressed in view of modelling work. This includes variables, pricing and production models for both communications and information contents. The most unique contribution is here a formal model for quantifying and pricing knowledge, both for consumption and for assets building.