Session 1 -  Pricing Evolution and Objectives

• Telecoms Pricing Past: Politics
• Telecoms Pricing Present: Regulation
• Pricing Regulation: why regulators are involved and what they do
• A regulator’s approach: cost based pricing and price caps
• Telecoms Pricing Future: Customers & profit
• Quantitative Objectives (i): Revenues, Cash Flow, Customer Acquisition, Market Share
• Quantitative Objectives (ii) Profit, Return on Investment, Shareholder Value
• Qualitative Objectives: customer loyalty and lifetime value

Session 2 - Influences on Pricing Strategy

• Willingness to pay: stated preference and revealed preference
• Price Elasticity of Demand
• Ramsey Pricing: maximising profits through bundling
• Next Generation Networks: how they affect the economics of pricing

Session 3 - Pricing Options and Strategies

• Price leading and price taking strategies
• Cost-based and value-based pricing mechanisms
• Differentiated pricing for market segments: premium, economy and customised pricing
• Pricing and the lifecycle: skimming, penetration, promotional pricing, price increases and decreases

Session 4 - Bundling Strategies

• The economics of bundling
• Why bundle products?
• Indivisible bundles
• Optional bundling
• Value added bundling
• Bundling and regulation: potential for anti-competitive behaviour

Session 5 - Billing Options

• Who values the communication most: calling party or receiving party?
• Using time period and flat rate billing to maximise profit
• Using time of day gradients to maximise profits
• Destination-sensitive pricing: is it relevant in an NGN environment?
• On-net and off-net billing