Bargaining-Based E-Content Pricing for 3G Data Services

As 3G era arrives, data services, such as streaming media and high-speed downloading, become the main source of telecom operators' income. The e-content value of data services varies a lot in different market environments or to different people, but with the traditional fixed pricing scheme we can not charge the data services dynamically. This paper proposes a novele-content pricing model which introduces a bargaining mechanism to negotiate e-content price with customers automatically. Depreciation factors of e-content are taken into account to generate a reasonable price range. Rational bargaining strategies are selected based on customer's willingness to pay, and then take control of the price concessions during bargaining process to offer the differentiated prices as well as try for maximum profits.