Comments on “Managing congestion in communications” Presentation to the 2013 ACCC regulatory conference Stephen P. King Monash University
Overview Congestion is hard to solve in many networks (not just communications) Communications networks raise ‘particular issues’ Problems with consumer congestion charging Thinking outside the box 2
Congestion problem … 3
Simple solution? 4
Simple solution? Consumer resistance: Paying for what was free; L ack of ‘trust’ in pricing; Equity (‘road’ neutrality?) 5
Now add in: Multiple related networks in a vertical chain ‘Contagion’ of congestion Two-directional flows Rapid growth in traffic volumes 6
Electricity solution Require network over build. 7
Suppose we could get over customer resistance and price congestion. Would this solve the problem? 8
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Who sets capacity? 11
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Do content providers pay? Can complementary technologies allow adequate ‘work arounds ’ (but still issue of capacity of regulated network)? 13
Takeaways We know how to price congestion in theory In practice we have no clue 14
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