The impact of regulation on mobile phone call prices in Africa

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Abstract Since the beginning of the 2000s, Africa has been experiencing a veritable revolution in the mobile telephony sector. Despite this revolution, mobile service prices remain exceptionally high relative to household purchasing power. This article analyses the impact of regulation on the pricing process for mobile calls in Africa, using panel data from 32 African countries over the period 2008–2020. The main results show that the simultaneous implementation of regulatory policies promotes lower prices for mobile calls in Africa. However, we get mixed results when we disaggregate regulation into these different components in the regression. The Autonomy of regulation and Regulatory regime components are detrimental to the variation in mobile call prices, while the Regulatory mandate and Competition framework components have a positive effect on prices. Consequently, the effectiveness of regulatory policy implies a coordinated and joint implementation of the different regulatory components. JEL Classification: C33; E31; L96 ; M38.

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