Optimal pricing of telecomm services in a developing country: A game theoretical approach

Abstract

Pricing is an important feature in preventing the misuse of any resource (specifically public resources) in a telecommunication network. The free-rider, tragedy of the anti-commons and tragedy of the commons problems can arise in the provision of public resources, when users of the resource have to contribute towards the cost of production. Selfish users in a group have the tendency to misrepresent preferences, so as to minimize their individual contributions and maximize their utilities, preventing the free rider and tragedy of the commons problems in telecommunications networks is crucial to prolonging the existence of a free or subsidized public resource. In this paper we develop a game theoretical approach to mitigating the free rider and tragedy of the commons problems in telecom networks.