網路外部性與現有的競爭政策之問題
─以通信產業為研究重心

手機電話、傳真以及電子信箱等通信產業，在每個顧客對於通信服務的需要上被認為可能具有最大規模的網路外部性。本論文中的網路外部性的定義為「某服務或某商品的利用者越多，其價值也跟著增加」。網路外部性對於產品的普及會有一定的影響，如某產品或服務具有網路外部性，在該產業有可能會造成壟斷的可能性。而造成此壟斷的有可能是某技術或設施，此種技術或設施則稱為「瓶頸設施」。本論文主要是依據互換性、網路性以及鎖定效應來進行分析。然後，對於由瓶頸設施造成的壟斷跟政府的政策之關係，主要是從對於壟斷的行為限制、以及構造限制兩方面來分析，並探討此種壟斷的形成過程、現況，此外再針對政府對此壟斷的政策規範和對應方法進行研究。本論文的主要目的之一為解釋造成網路外部性這種現象的主要因素，另外，如果在具有網路外部性的競爭市場上，此種現象對於在競爭市場上的企業會造成怎樣的影響也是本論文的主要論點之一。此外，在通信產業裡，消費者需要與提供通信服務的企業在價格設定的關係、通信產業裡出現了新進企業時消費者的利益變化為何等等，都是在本論文裡想要探討的課題。

關鍵字

網路外部性；瓶頸設施；通信產業

並列摘要

It is said that the demand for individual services in the telecommunication service, such as mobile phones, facsimile, E-mail service, has the largest scale of network externality. In this paper the network externality is defined as "The value of the products or services increase as the people who use goods and services grow". As a result of a major impact on the dissemination of the product, the external network may result causing a monopoly. These kinds of markets which distorts the free and fair competition, is called a "monopoly bottleneck". This paper is mainly analyzed by using the concepts of compatibility, network, and a lock-in effect. To consider the monopoly bottlenecks competition policy, this paper would do the analysis from both Structure Regulation and Behavior Regulation terms. By doing this, this paper would like to consider the process of the monopoly, and what is the role of policy and regulation against the monopoly. In this paper, I would like to explain the factors of the network externality, how it works, and what kind of effects it has on the competitive market, and also to analyze the relation between the consumer demand and the price setting done by the service-providing company. Still, this paper would like to explain what kind of changes and effects it would be brought to the market, and to the consumer welfare too, if new firms entry into the same telecommunication market.