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International Conference on Game Theory for Networks

GameNets 2019: Game Theory for Networks pp 93–108Cite as

The Economics of Bundling Content with Unlicensed Wireless Service

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Abstract

Adding new unlicensed wireless spectrum is a promising approach to accommodate increasing traffic demand. However, unlicensed spectrum may have a high risk of becoming congested, and service providers (SPs) may have difficulty to differentiate their wireless services when offering them on the same unlicensed spectrum. When SPs offer identical services, the resulting competition can lead to zero profits. In this work, we consider the case where an SP bundles its wireless service with a content service. We show that this can differentiate the SPs’ services and lead to positive SP profits. In particular, we study the characteristics of the content services that an SP should bundle with its wireless service, and analyze the impact of bundling on consumer surplus.

This research was supported in part by NSF grants TWC-1314620, AST- 1343381, AST-1547328 and CNS-1701921.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    We use the superscript PE to indicate that the corresponding results are derived at price equilibrium.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, USA

    Yining Zhu, Haoran Yu & Randall Berry

Authors
  1. Yining Zhu
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  2. Haoran Yu
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  3. Randall Berry
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yining Zhu .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Inria Sophia Antipolis, Sophia Antipolis Cedex, France

    Konstantin Avrachenkov

  2. Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

    Longbo Huang

  3. University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

    Jason R. Marden

  4. Telecom ParisTech (ENST), Paris Cedex, France

    Marceau Coupechoux

  5. Sorbonne Université, Paris Cedex, France

    Anastasios Giovanidis

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© 2019 ICST Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering

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Zhu, Y., Yu, H., Berry, R. (2019). The Economics of Bundling Content with Unlicensed Wireless Service. In: Avrachenkov, K., Huang, L., Marden, J., Coupechoux, M., Giovanidis, A. (eds) Game Theory for Networks. GameNets 2019. Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering, vol 277. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16989-3_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16989-3_7

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-16988-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-16989-3

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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