The communications industry has become one of the key drivers for economic development and, following the liberalization of the sector in the late twentieth century, it has undergone a tremendous transformation. The lecture 'Communications Economics' will not only provide students with a basic economic understanding of the communications sector by laying out the economic principles of network industries and digital goods, but also seeks to investigate business strategies, such as handset subsidies, flat rate tariffs or bundle pricing and regulatory challenges, such as Digital Convergence, call termination fees, separation of network infrastructure and services and efficient distribution of spectrum licenses.

1. J.-J. Laffont, J. Tirole (2000): Competition in Telecommunications, MIT Press.
2. R. R. Braeutigam (1989): 'Optimal Policies for Natural Monopolies' in: R. Schmalensee and R. Willig (eds.): Handbook of Industrial Organization, Vol. 2, Ch. 23, pp. 1289-1346, North-Holland
3. Steger, U., Büdenbender, U., Feess, E., Nelles, D. (2008): Die Regulierung elektrischer Netze: Offene Fragen und Lösungsansätze, Springer
4. Varian, Hal (2006): 'Intermediate microeconomics: a modern approach', 7th edition (international student edition), Norton

Der Studierende

• versteht die Grundlagen der Spieltheorie mit Fokus auf Industrieökonomik,
• analysiert die Telekommunikationsindustrie bzgl. der Netzwerkökonomie und digitalen Güter,
• formalisiert und evaluiert ökonomisch komplexe Aspekte der aktuellen Regulierung