17-03-2014, 08:12 PM
Abstract
As 3G era arrives, data services, such as streaming
media and high-speed downloading, become the main
source of telecom operators’ income. The e-content
value of data services varies a lot in different market
environments or to different people, but with the
traditional fixed pricing scheme we can not charge the
data services dynamically. This paper proposes a novel
e-content pricing model which introduces a bargaining
mechanism to negotiate e-content price with customers
automatically. Depreciation factors of e-content are
taken into account to generate a reasonable price
range. Rational bargaining strategies are selected
based on customer’s willingness to pay, and then take
control of the price concessions during bargaining
process to offer the differentiated prices as well as try
for maximum profits.
1. Introduction
IP technology accelerates the convergence of
information technology and communication
technology. At the same time, the revenue from the
traditional voice services is declining year by year.
Economists estimate that in the next eight years the
total revenue from the convergent telecom market will
go as high as 5 trillion U.S. dollar [1]. The
establishment of 3G Network and the transition of
telecom operators are the industry's main concern and
the most widely discussed topics. Nowadays, the
operators have already built their 3G data services
management platforms, but many problems have
emerged, such as how to attract customers to pay for econtent,
how to price e-content, how to maximize
profit out of e-content. A feasible e-content pricing
system is urgently needed to solve these problems.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows.
Section 2 illustrates the concept of e-content pricing
and bargaining mechanism. Section 3 proposes a novel
e-content pricing model and some necessary changes in
the existing functional model. We discuss the
bargaining mechanism in Section 4. Section 5
concludes the paper.
As 3G era arrives, data services, such as streaming
media and high-speed downloading, become the main
source of telecom operators’ income. The e-content
value of data services varies a lot in different market
environments or to different people, but with the
traditional fixed pricing scheme we can not charge the
data services dynamically. This paper proposes a novel
e-content pricing model which introduces a bargaining
mechanism to negotiate e-content price with customers
automatically. Depreciation factors of e-content are
taken into account to generate a reasonable price
range. Rational bargaining strategies are selected
based on customer’s willingness to pay, and then take
control of the price concessions during bargaining
process to offer the differentiated prices as well as try
for maximum profits.
1. Introduction
IP technology accelerates the convergence of
information technology and communication
technology. At the same time, the revenue from the
traditional voice services is declining year by year.
Economists estimate that in the next eight years the
total revenue from the convergent telecom market will
go as high as 5 trillion U.S. dollar [1]. The
establishment of 3G Network and the transition of
telecom operators are the industry's main concern and
the most widely discussed topics. Nowadays, the
operators have already built their 3G data services
management platforms, but many problems have
emerged, such as how to attract customers to pay for econtent,
how to price e-content, how to maximize
profit out of e-content. A feasible e-content pricing
system is urgently needed to solve these problems.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows.
Section 2 illustrates the concept of e-content pricing
and bargaining mechanism. Section 3 proposes a novel
e-content pricing model and some necessary changes in
the existing functional model. We discuss the
bargaining mechanism in Section 4. Section 5
concludes the paper.