The Impact of Data Portability on Platform Competition

Data (number) portability increased switching activity in telecoms markets, but not so far in banking. Data portability is, however, particularly relevant in platform markets dominated by Big-Techs in order to allow an entrant to compete on quality through profiling and matching algorithms. This article discusses results from a model on incumbency advantage among two-sided platforms, whereby agents face different levels of switching costs. Interestingly, policies aimed at lowering switching costs, especially for consumers with higher costs due, for example, to behavioural inertia, might unintendedly hurt entry, as the incumbent platform becomes less accommodative. Moreover, higher switching costs help to avert “winner-takes-all” outcomes preventing sustainable entry. Again counterintuitively, these results show the incumbent preferring a multihoming regime, whereas users might be worse-off. These findings raise deep questions from a regulatory perspective, given that data portability policies are typically motivated by the desire to facilitate competition through multihoming and reducing switching costs

Unveiling quantum-limited operation of interband cascade lasers

A comprehensive experimental analysis of the frequency fluctuations of a mid-infrared interband cascade laser, down to the quantum-limited operation, is reported. These lasers differ from any other class of semiconductor lasers in their structure and internal carrier generation and transport processes. Although already commercially available, a full evaluation of their potential has not been possible, until now, mainly because their internal dynamics are not yet understood well enough. The measured intrinsic linewidth, down to 10 kHz, ranks them in between quantum cascade and bipolar semiconductor lasers. Understanding the noise features is especially important for demanding applications and is a necessary step for a deeper knowledge of the physical behavior for this class of lasers, in view of the development of novel designs for improved performance.A comprehensive experimental analysis of the frequency fluctuations of a mid-infrared interband cascade laser, down to the quantum-limited operation, is reported. These lasers differ from any other class of semiconductor lasers in their structure and internal carrier generation and transport processes. Although already commercially available, a full evaluation of their potential has not been possible, until now, mainly because their internal dynamics are not yet understood well enough. The measured intrinsic linewidth, down to 10 kHz, ranks them in between quantum cascade and bipolar semiconductor lasers. Understanding the noise features is especially important for demanding applications and is a necessary step for a deeper knowledge of the physical behavior for this class of lasers, in view of the development of novel designs for improved performance

Retrieval of phase relation and emission profile of quantum cascade laser frequency combs

The major development recently undergone by quantum cascade lasers has effectively extended frequency comb emission to longer-wavelength spectral regions, i.e. the mid and far infrared. Unlike classical pulsed frequency combs, their mode-locking mechanism relies on four-wave mixing nonlinear processes, with a temporal intensity profile different from conventional short-pulses trains. Measuring the absolute phase pattern of the modes in these combs enables a thorough characterization of the onset of mode-locking in absence of short-pulses emission, as well as of the coherence properties. Here, by combining dual-comb multi-heterodyne detection with Fourier-transform analysis, we show how to simultaneously acquire and monitor over a wide range of timescales the phase pattern of a generic frequency comb. The technique is applied to characterize a mid-infrared and a terahertz quantum cascade laser frequency comb, conclusively proving the high degree of coherence and the remarkable long-term stability of these sources. Moreover, the technique allows also the reconstruction of electric field, intensity profile and instantaneous frequency of the emission.Comment: 20 pages. Submitted to Nature Photonic

Common-clock very long baseline interferometry using a coherent optical fiber link

Among the most powerful techniques for the exploration of the Universe is very long baseline interferometry (VLBI), which is based on the simultaneous observation of radio sources in the sky with arrays of distant ground-based antennas. One of the effects currently limiting its ultimate sensitivity is the phase-instability of the reference clocks adopted at each antenna. This termcan be made negligible delivering the same clock signal to multiple telescope sites using optical fibers. We realized such an infrastructure by disseminating a coherent optical frequency signal to two distant radio telescopes using a 1739-km-long fiber.We performed a 24 h geodetic VLBI campaign in which the same clock reference was used at both telescopes and analyzed it using standard VLBI procedures. The results were consistent with the expectations, confirming that the proposed approach is feasible and configures as a novel tool for studying the role of clocks, troposphere, and systematic effects in the ultimate VLBI resolution

EVALITA Evaluation of NLP and Speech Tools for Italian - December 17th, 2020

Welcome to EVALITA 2020! EVALITA is the evaluation campaign of Natural Language Processing and Speech Tools for Italian. EVALITA is an initiative of the Italian Association for Computational Linguistics (AILC, http://www.ai-lc.it) and it is endorsed by the Italian Association for Artificial Intelligence (AIxIA, http://www.aixia.it) and the Italian Association for Speech Sciences (AISV, http://www.aisv.it)

Access regulation on NGA-A financial, market-led solution to bridge the gap between US and European diverging regulatory approaches

How to regulate wholesale access on next generation access (NGA) networks is probably the most pressing issue faced by European telecoms regulars today. The lack of actual competitive restraint from cable operators precludes the replication of US-like regulatory forbearance, as it might lead to the (re-) monopolization of broadband markets by telecoms incumbents, thus spoiling the celebrated achievements over the last decade, whereby competing operators have penetrated the market thanks to widespread access regulation over the DSL platform. However, as NGA networks are largely yet to be deployed, the threat of similar measures being extended is keeping incumbents from undertaking investments into NGA. This is particularly so given the perceived uncertainty about consumers' willingness to pay for next-generation Internet access services, which raises deep reservations about the viability of the business case for NGA. Such a stalemate is exacerbated by the difficulty of envisaging practical solutions to reach a "new regulatory contract", where conflicting interests are effectively balanced out for the benefit of the society overall. This article represents an attempt to address this vacuum. A "division of labour" between regulators and the market is proposed, in order to reflect distinctive capabilities in an incentive-compatible way. In particular, while regulators would be responsible for setting wholesale access terms, the market would be left to price the risk in NGA deployment through the functioning of a commodity option market.Next generation networks Access regulation Option markets Auction Regulatory forbearance

Global economy report : January-February 2017

Report closed on 18 January 2017.The objective of the Report is to provide an analysis of the current and expected macroeconomic and financial conditions at the global level, with also a focus on key economic areas such as Europe, the USA and ASIA

Spatial Models of Heterogeneous Switching Costs

The presence of sticky, often labelled ‘unengaged’, consumers is arguably one of the most intractable issues faced by competition regulators, in that it entrenches incumbency advantage. We develop a spatial linear model of heterogeneous switching costs that allows for asymmetric distributions of heterogeneous switching costs. We not only model uniform pricing and history-based price discrimination, but also the impact of regulatory intervention aimed at making it easier for customers to be upgraded to a better tariff from their current service provider, something we call ‘leakage’. Finally, we analyse firms’ incentive to adopt history-based price discrimination and voluntarily permit ‘leakage’