Abstract:
Many flavors of differential data pricing are being practiced in different telecom markets. One popular version is zero-rating, where customers do not pay for consuming a...Show MoreMetadata
Abstract:
Many flavors of differential data pricing are being practiced in different telecom markets. One popular version is zero-rating, where customers do not pay for consuming a certain basket of “zero-rated” content. These zero-rated services are in turn sponsored by payments to the Internet service provider (ISP) by the corresponding content providers (CPs). In this paper, we provide an analytical treatment of a zero-rating platform, highlighting the effect of zero-rating on the structure of the CP market and also on the surplus of ISPs, CPs, and users. A leader-follower game is assumed with the ISP setting the prices for users (for non-sponsored data) and CPs (for sponsored data), CPs making a binary decision on sponsorship and users consuming content based on the resulting data charges. User consumption is determined by a utility maximization, the sponsorship decision is determined by a Nash equilibrium between the CPs, and the ISP sets prices to maximize its profit. Several scenarios mimicking real-life practices are analyzed. Our results indicate that zero-rating grants the ISP significant power to determine the mix of content consumption and the profitability of the CPs. Furthermore, the ISP can also take away a significant portion of the surplus in the system.
Published in: IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking ( Volume: 27, Issue: 2, April 2019)
Funding Agency:
Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Bombay, Mumbai, India
Kunal Phalak received the bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering with specialization in communications and signal processing from IIT Bombay in 2016. He was with McKinsey & Company, where he was involved in advanced analytics practice, for two years. He is currently an Investment Associate with Vertex Venture Capital, investing in technology and Internet businesses in India and Southeast Asia. His inter...Show More
Kunal Phalak received the bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering with specialization in communications and signal processing from IIT Bombay in 2016. He was with McKinsey & Company, where he was involved in advanced analytics practice, for two years. He is currently an Investment Associate with Vertex Venture Capital, investing in technology and Internet businesses in India and Southeast Asia. His inter...View more
Bharti Centre for Communication, IIT Bombay, Mumbai, India
D. Manjunath received the B.E. degree from Mysore University in 1986, the M.S. degree from IIT Madras in 1989, and the Ph.D. degree from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1993. He was with the Corporate Research and Development Center, General Electric, Schenectady, NY, USA, in 1990, the Computer and Information Sciences Department, University of Delaware, from 1992 to 1993, the Computer Science Department, Universi...Show More
D. Manjunath received the B.E. degree from Mysore University in 1986, the M.S. degree from IIT Madras in 1989, and the Ph.D. degree from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1993. He was with the Corporate Research and Development Center, General Electric, Schenectady, NY, USA, in 1990, the Computer and Information Sciences Department, University of Delaware, from 1992 to 1993, the Computer Science Department, Universi...View more
Bharti Centre for Communication, IIT Bombay, Mumbai, India
Jayakrishnan Nair received the B.Tech. and M.Tech. degrees in electrical engineering (EE) from IIT Bombay in 2007, and the Ph.D. degree in EE from the California Institute of Technology in 2012. He held post-doctoral positions with the California Institute of Technology and with Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica. He is currently an Assistant Professor of EE with IIT Bombay. His research focuses on modeling, performance evalu...Show More
Jayakrishnan Nair received the B.Tech. and M.Tech. degrees in electrical engineering (EE) from IIT Bombay in 2007, and the Ph.D. degree in EE from the California Institute of Technology in 2012. He held post-doctoral positions with the California Institute of Technology and with Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica. He is currently an Assistant Professor of EE with IIT Bombay. His research focuses on modeling, performance evalu...View more
Contents Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Bombay, Mumbai, India
Kunal Phalak received the bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering with specialization in communications and signal processing from IIT Bombay in 2016. He was with McKinsey & Company, where he was involved in advanced analytics practice, for two years. He is currently an Investment Associate with Vertex Venture Capital, investing in technology and Internet businesses in India and Southeast Asia. His interests are in game theory and understanding the new age economy built on the Internet and networks.
Kunal Phalak received the bachelor’s and master’s degrees in electrical engineering with specialization in communications and signal processing from IIT Bombay in 2016. He was with McKinsey & Company, where he was involved in advanced analytics practice, for two years. He is currently an Investment Associate with Vertex Venture Capital, investing in technology and Internet businesses in India and Southeast Asia. His interests are in game theory and understanding the new age economy built on the Internet and networks.View more
Bharti Centre for Communication, IIT Bombay, Mumbai, India
D. Manjunath received the B.E. degree from Mysore University in 1986, the M.S. degree from IIT Madras in 1989, and the Ph.D. degree from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1993. He was with the Corporate Research and Development Center, General Electric, Schenectady, NY, USA, in 1990, the Computer and Information Sciences Department, University of Delaware, from 1992 to 1993, the Computer Science Department, University of Toronto, from 1993 to 1994, and the Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Kanpur, from 1994 to 1998. He was the Head of the Computer Centre, IIT Bombay, during 2011–2015. He has been with the Electrical Engineering Department, IIT Bombay, since 1998, where he is currently an Institute Chair Professor. He has coauthored two textbooks, Communication Networking: An Analytical Approach (Morgan-Kaufman Publishers, 2004) and Wireless Networking (Morgan-Kaufman Publishers, 2008). His research interests are in the general areas of communication networks and performance analysis. His recent research has concentrated on random networks with applications in wireless and sensor networks, network pricing, and queue control. He received the Best Paper Award at ACM SIGMETRICS 2010. He is an Associate Editor of the IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, Queueing Systems: Theory and Applications, and Sadhana: The Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences. He was the TPC Chair of COMSNETS 2011 and NCC 2015 and the General Chair of ACM MobiHoc 2013 and COMSNETS 2015.
D. Manjunath received the B.E. degree from Mysore University in 1986, the M.S. degree from IIT Madras in 1989, and the Ph.D. degree from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1993. He was with the Corporate Research and Development Center, General Electric, Schenectady, NY, USA, in 1990, the Computer and Information Sciences Department, University of Delaware, from 1992 to 1993, the Computer Science Department, University of Toronto, from 1993 to 1994, and the Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Kanpur, from 1994 to 1998. He was the Head of the Computer Centre, IIT Bombay, during 2011–2015. He has been with the Electrical Engineering Department, IIT Bombay, since 1998, where he is currently an Institute Chair Professor. He has coauthored two textbooks, Communication Networking: An Analytical Approach (Morgan-Kaufman Publishers, 2004) and Wireless Networking (Morgan-Kaufman Publishers, 2008). His research interests are in the general areas of communication networks and performance analysis. His recent research has concentrated on random networks with applications in wireless and sensor networks, network pricing, and queue control. He received the Best Paper Award at ACM SIGMETRICS 2010. He is an Associate Editor of the IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, Queueing Systems: Theory and Applications, and Sadhana: The Proceedings of the Indian Academy of Sciences. He was the TPC Chair of COMSNETS 2011 and NCC 2015 and the General Chair of ACM MobiHoc 2013 and COMSNETS 2015.View more
Bharti Centre for Communication, IIT Bombay, Mumbai, India
Jayakrishnan Nair received the B.Tech. and M.Tech. degrees in electrical engineering (EE) from IIT Bombay in 2007, and the Ph.D. degree in EE from the California Institute of Technology in 2012. He held post-doctoral positions with the California Institute of Technology and with Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica. He is currently an Assistant Professor of EE with IIT Bombay. His research focuses on modeling, performance evaluation, and design issues in queueing systems and communication networks.
Jayakrishnan Nair received the B.Tech. and M.Tech. degrees in electrical engineering (EE) from IIT Bombay in 2007, and the Ph.D. degree in EE from the California Institute of Technology in 2012. He held post-doctoral positions with the California Institute of Technology and with Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica. He is currently an Assistant Professor of EE with IIT Bombay. His research focuses on modeling, performance evaluation, and design issues in queueing systems and communication networks.View more
