Abstract

[Abstract(Law)] A Problem of Bundled Discounts and Monopolistic Leveraging: Comparative Analysis of Telecommunication Business Act and Competition Law in Korea

  • DATE WRITTEN : 2020-11-02
  • WRITER : APCC
  • VIEW : 1256
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Bundling is a marketing strategy that consists of companies selling several products together as a single combined unit which offers a lower price than they would normally charge customers to buy each item separately.

¡°Bundled discounts¡± are pervasive in the Korean telecommunication market which is governed by the Korean Telecommunications Business Act(¡°TBA¡±). In this light, TBA stipulates the transfer of Dominant Market Power(¡°DMP¡±) driven by bundling from the telecommunication companies.

In Korea, the Monopoly Regulation and Fair Trade Act and TBA have an elusive antitrust standard on bundled discounts. Specifically, TBA does not define the concept of ¡®DMP¡¯ nor its transfer thereby resulting in ambiguous treatments on bundled discounts.

This article addresses the problems of telecommunication companies¡¯ bundled discounts, monopoly leveraging, and transfer of DMP. Moreover, this article contends that bundled discounts should not be considered anti-competitive when it does not amount to predatory pricing. In other words, the bundled discounts should be deemed lawful if the price of the bundle is not below an appropriate measure of the cost of the bundle(predator pricing).
      
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