URL: http://ideas.repec.org/p/cam/camdae/0332.html
http://econpapers.hhs.se/paper/camcamdae/0332.htm Entry Date: 2004-06-30 Datasets:

• Daily prices and quality metrics for transit contracts from Band-X (July 3 to November 5, 2002)
• Band-X is an Online Internet Transit trading place that provides daily prices for transit at different bandwidths and contract lengths (1 month, 3 months, etc.) from connection locations in London and New York.
• Quality metrics are provided and measured by Band-X, not those that may be in a service agreement. They include RTT, packet loss %, transfer rate, and hop count to specified destinations.
• Seller of a contract is identified only by a dummy (A, B, C, D, ...)

Experiments: Panel data regression was done, showing the affect and statistical significance of different variables on the offered price. Results:

• Price variations are only marginally affected by qualitiative dimensions.
• Price variance is mostly explained by the companies' dummy with high coefficients and high statistical significance.
• Market power does exist in the internet connectivity market, even when the providers are supposedly anonymous.
• The customers may be able to determine the provider after purchasing a contract, or price may be used as a signal of other qualities that affect preference of provider such as size and reputation.