Oversimplified and Misleading International Price Comparisons Must Not Guide Policy and Regulatory Decisions

Abstract

Rewheel’s “Digital Fuel Monitor” (DFM) has never been subject to a comprehensive peer review.

The present report fills this void by examining the proclaimed accuracy of a complete version of one of Rewheel’s studies, namely, Rewheel/research’s “The state of 4G pricing – 1H2018,” Digital Fuel Monitor 9th release, dated May 1, 2018, as a tool to compare international retail prices for mobile wireless services and as a measure of a country’s state of competition. It finds that Rewheel’s Digital Fuel Monitor is a highly simplistic international price comparison exercise that results in economically meaningless rankings.

Keywords: Digital Fuel Monitor, Rewheel, Telecommunications, Mobile Wireless Prices

JEL Classification: D00, D40, D43, L1, L4, L96, L98