Please answer accurately & for 4b refer to the article attached

Q4(a) Explain what is pricing tripod. Do you think is there any approach better than the others? Support your arguments. (b) Referring to the article "Japan's cosy telecoms firms are being told to lower prices", why do the three telecom companies in Japan had lower profit margin in 2019? What are the main strategies of the telecom companies react to the lower margin? Explain in details. Japan's cosy telecoms firms are being told to lower prices Rate cuts to bring prices for customers more in line with other developed markets will hurt margins Oct 8th 2020 TOKYO When wupa yosbilbide emerged as the likeliest to succeed Abe Shinzo as Japan's prime minister, telecoms bosses in Tokyo let out a collective groan. As Mr Abe's chief cabinet secretary, Mr Suga urged operators to cut prices by as much as 40%"They are using our public airwaves, an asset of the people." he said in 2018. "They should not be generating excessive profit. Since replacing Mr Abe last month. Mr Suga has made competition in mobile services a signature issue. The share prices of Japan's three big carriers-DoCoMo SoftBank Corp and addi-fell by 10-15% between late August and late September Mr Suga's calls were also the soundtrack to a pair of blockbuster announcements. On September 29th Nippon Telegraph and Telephone fon) said it was taking a DoCoMo, its listed mobile subsidiary private. The tender offer, of S40bn for the 34% of shares it does not already own.is Japan's biggest ever. The next day Rakuten, a Japanese c-commerce giant with ambitions to shake up mobile telephony, launched its much-awaited Ss network. An entry-level plan costs 12,980 (528) a month, about half as much as comparable offers from rivals. The government reckons that data-heavy users in Japan pay more than in other developed countries. For users of plans with Se of data. prices in Tokyo are three times higher than in Paris (see chart) Operators counter that users get what they pay for Japanese networks consistently rate among the world's best. The three big providers top the global rankings for availability compiled by Opensignal, an analyties firm. Consumers have choice: SoftBank Corp and kddi have their own budget brands, and myriad mobile virtual network operators", which piggyback on existing infrastructure, have cropped up in recent years, offering cheaper services Talk is cheap data aren't Mobile data plans, 5GB per month, antecos.fimperating margin NTT Do KDO 15 NIT 10 2014 19 Vanding March Facialar Yet the promise of bringing prices down offers the prime minister a quick political win. "Most people have phones and most people think they are expensive." says Yokota Hidaki of rm Research Institute, a consultancy Such efforts have been under way for years. Back in 2015 Mr Abe argued that phone bills were a dragon household budgets Legislation enacted last year capped subsidies on handsets and cracked down on contracts that made it difficult to switch providers. DoCoMo announced a round of price cuts that brought it closer to SoftBank's and's levels The main tool for spurring competition was supposed to be Rakuten's entry in the market which Mr Suga encouraged under Mr Abe. The tech firm lanched its cloud-based 4 network in April and its service last month. That may put down and pressure on prices eventually. But Rakuten's network coverage remains to patchy and its market share 100 small to spook the incumbents right away A bigger jolt may come from the spectre, raised by Mr Suge of higher fees for mobile-spectrum use. Japan awards its spectrum to operators based on merita nebulous concept, rather than action.)'s buy-out of DoCoMo, which was at least six months in the making. may make it casier to placate the prime minister. When he ansced the deal, the company's chief executive Suwada Jun, said it would leave DoCoMo in more solid financial position so it will have capacity to carry out further price cuti SoftBank and did have since said they, too, will consider cuts After being spun off from in 1992. DoCoMo became a pioneer of mobile internet, launching mode, which allowed users to read email and browse the weight years before the iPhone was released. Yet the firm has slipped recently. Although DoCoMo has the largest market share of the three large carriers, with 379 106' 28% and SoftBank's 22. its profits have fallen and a hacking scandal undermined an attempt to cupand into fimech hopes that bringing it in-house will help speed up decision-making and unlock cost savings that will mollify minority shareholders angry about raceuts The reductions, when they come, are unlikely to be anywhere near the 40 Mr Suga once sought. "There will be pressure on pricing, but there won't be massive step change in the industry," reckons Kirk Boodry of Redex Holdings, an advisory firm. Cuts could be targeted at heavy data-users or low-camers. The reduced sales will only accelerate the mobile operators shift from providing connectivity towards other revenue streams, such as offering fintech products for consumers or cloud services for businesses, says Mr Boodry. Operators will focus on attracting customers to price se plans. With a capa handset subsidies, competition will shift to network quality, argues Tsuru Mitsuobu of Citigroup, a bank. That, he says. "is exactly what the government wants to se