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단말기 번들링이 경쟁과 소비자후생에 미치는 효과 연구

A Study on the Effects of Handset Bundling on Competition and Consumer Welfare

  • 정석균 (한양대학교 정책과학대학 정책학과)
  • Chung, Sukkyun (Dept. of Policy, College of Policy Science, Hanyang University)
  • 투고 : 2014.04.14
  • 심사 : 2014.07.20
  • 발행 : 2014.07.28

초록

단말기와 서비스의 번들링(bundling)이 단말기보조금의 홍역과 자원낭비 및 고가(高價)단말기-고(高)통신요금 구조의 악순환 등 국내 이동통신산업이 안고 있는 많은 문제점의 근본적인 원인임을 분석한다. 번들링은 시장의 투명성을 약화시켜 소비자가 가격혼동을 겪게 하고 단말기시장과 서비스시장의 독과점화를 심화시키며 서비스품질과 통신요금인하경쟁 대신 단말기보조금 지급 위주의 경쟁패턴을 초래한다. 이는 이동통신요금의 상승요인으로 작용하여 소비자후생을 저하시키고 가격차별로 인해 소비자간 형평성 문제를 야기한다. 이러한 문제의 근본적인 해결을 위해서는 단말기와 서비스의 번들링 해체가 필요함을 제기한다. 기존의 번들링을 허용하면서 단말기의 개별 판매를 추진하는 혼합번들링(mixed bundling)은 번들링이 우월적 전략(dominant strategy)이 되기 때문에 그 효과에 한계가 있음을 지적하고, 규제정책의 시사점으로 단말기와 서비스의 완전 분리가 필요함을 제시한다.

This paper finds that the ultimate source of problems facing Korean mobile telecommunications such as excessive subsidies of handsets, waste of resources, and a vicious circle of expensive handsets and high prices for services, is bundling of handset and subscription. The analysis suggests that bundling causes consumers to confuse about prices of handsets and services, and firms focus on handset subsidy competition rather than on upgrading service qualities and lowering prices due to anti-competitive effects of bundling. Because most of the cost of bundling is passed on to consumers, the welfare of consumers decline. In particular, equality among consumers worsens due to price discriminations. To resolve these problems, unbundling of handset and subscription is a necessity. Mixed bundling allowing separate selling of handsets under bundling does not seem to work as a cure because bundling tends to be a dominant strategy. The best regulatory policy is a complete separation of handset and subscription.

키워드

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