The effect of regulation on competition in mobile telecommunication industry: The case of number portability in Turkey

In this PhD thesis, attempts to create a competitive market by reducing switching costs in the context of the effect of regulation on competition are analyzed with the Turkey Mobile Telecommunication Industry case. Switching costs lead consumers to buy again from the same firm, even if they are not satisfied with the current situation by creating dependence and inertia by creating a negative impact on the price sensitivity of the consumer and positively affecting customer loyalty. these costs shape market structure by causing market actors' decision dynamics to differ from general assumptions. Once the switching costs have been identified and described in the economic literature, it is desirable to reduce them in various ways by regulatory authorities to create competition and to strengthen competition in markets. Regarding mobile telecommunication markets where these costs are highly observed, regulatory authorities want to reduce these costs and create a more competitive structure by implementing mobile number portability. Analysis of such a large intervention in these markets, where scale, scope and intensity economies are observed and there are high and various fixed, common and combined costs and there are complex pricing strategies are used and has high growth rates, is very important. Practice examples demonstrate that the effects of regulation differ from country to country and fail in many countries. In this study, the necessity of regulation and competition is emphasized and the switching costs are examined as a factors preventing competition and the mobile number portability which is expected to reduce these switching costs is analyzed. In chapter three the Turkey Mobile Telecommunications Market and the effects of mobile number portability regulation are analyzed. In empirical analysis, the long-run relationship between price and quantity in the market is estimated by the cointegration with structural breaks analysis and the effect of the regulation on this relationship is examined. When considering the cost and aims at evaluating the results obtained from analysis, as a human right and competition supporting policie the regulation create a positive effect in the market but it has been determined that it had not achieve the goals of creating a competitive market and prices.