Using data on mobile Internet usage of thousands of individuals, we provide some of the first analyses linking mobile usage to key demographics such as income. We find a reverse-U relationship between mobile Internet usage and income—notably different than the monotonically declining relationship found on home devices. This pattern suggests that data caps are particularly binding on low-income users. We then construct a simple model of mobile Internet usage that incorporates demand features suggested by our empirical finding and prior empirical findings on device adoption and usage. After abstracting away from cost and two-sided market considerations, we solve the model, and through comparative statics, identify demand conditions for which usage-based pricing (via a data cap) is, or is not, revenue enhancing. Key insights from this analysis are: (1) the tendency toward demand-driven price discrimination is hill-shaped (increasing then decreasing) in the number of low-income users and eventually declining in high-income users, and (2) a relatively high (low) proportion of total value attained from relatively low usage levels by low-income (high-income) users increases the tendency toward demand-driven price discrimination. Hence, to the extent that a market has a large number of low-income users and/or high-income users attain a higher proportion of their total value at the cap than low-income users, the use of caps by providers is more likely driven by cost (or other non-demand-side) considerations than by revenue enhancement. Lastly, additional analysis shows a largely monotonically increasing relationship between income and usage intensity (measured as page views in a session), suggesting that, ceteris paribus, price discrimination strategies may be more effective if tied to usage intensity rather than duration.

中文翻译：

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移动互联网使用和基于使用的定价

我们使用数千人的移动互联网使用数据，提供了一些初步分析，将移动使用与收入等关键人口统计数据联系起来。我们发现移动互联网使用和收入之间存在倒 U 型关系——明显不同于在家用设备上发现的单调下降关系。这种模式表明数据上限对低收入用户特别具有约束力。然后，我们构建了一个简单的移动互联网使用模型，该模型结合了我们的实证研究结果和先前关于设备采用和使用的实证研究结果所建议的需求特征。在从成本和双边市场考虑因素中抽象出来之后，我们解决了模型，并通过比较静态，确定了基于使用的定价（通过数据上限）是否会增加收入的需求条件。该分析的主要见解是：(1) 需求驱动的价格歧视趋势在低收入用户数量上呈山形(先增后减)，最终在高收入用户中下降，以及 (2) 占总量的较高（低）比例低收入（高收入）用户从相对较低的使用水平获得的价值增加了​​需求驱动的价格歧视趋势。因此，如果市场拥有大量低收入用户和/或高收入用户在上限时获得的总价值比例高于低收入用户，则提供商更有可能使用上限由成本（或其他非需求方）考虑而非收入增加驱动。最后，额外的分析显示收入和使用强度（以会话中的页面浏览量衡量）之间的关系在很大程度上单调增加，