The competitiveness of mobile telephony across the European Union

This paper analyses the competitiveness of the mobile telecommunications industry across the European Union. A structural model of demand and supply has been estimated for annual data on 15 EU countries from 1998 to 2002. Estimates of country-specific conjectural variations allow us to compare the competitiveness of mobile telephony across the EU, and can offer an alternative to the evaluation of competition based on direct cross-country price comparisons. Average industry conjectural variations decrease over time as a result of regulation. The liberalization of fixed telephone lines and the introduction of number portability for mobiles increase the competitiveness of the mobile industry.