Impact of Roaming Regulation on Revenues and Prices of Mobile Operators in the EU

Abstract

We empirically assess the impact of the EU roaming regulation on mobile operators’ average revenues per user (ARPU) and retail prices. Using a differences-in-difference approach, hedonic price regressions and detailed operator and plan-level data we find that the regulation decreased mobile operator’s revenues per user, while it had no impact on tariffs during the latest phase of the regulation.