May
20

FCC Unable/Unwilling To Conclude Wireless Industry Uncompetitive – Despite their own study that supposedly suggests as much…

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The FCC has released their fourteenth annual report (pdf) and like most things the FCC has attempted recently, the report tries to carefully walk a center line to avoid upsetting anyone. The report insists that the wireless industry is not “effectively competitive,” then proceeds to insist that the FCC is not making any conclusions on whether the wireless industry is competitive. In a statement (pdf), FCC boss Julius Genachowski said the agency did “not seek to reach an overly simple ‘yes-or-no’ conclusion” about the state of competition. The wireless industry expressed disappointment at the agency’s unwillingness to gush:

We believe the Commission missed an opportunity today to truly highlight one of the few glowing examples of investment, innovation and consumer choice in the U.S. economy. While we understand that the Commission is not making any conclusion about the state of competition in the market, nor are they suggesting that the marketplace has changed to the detriment of consumers during 2008, we nonetheless are disappointed and confused as to why they ve chosen not to make a finding of ‘effective competition’ for that year.

In contrast, consumer group Free Press complained about the agency’s unwillingness to conclude any competitive problems, despite the fact their own study seems to suggest as much:

The data in the FCC’s wireless competition report adopted today demonstrates what we have been arguing for years: The wireless market has substantial obstacles to effective competition, and these obstacles restrict consumer choice, service quality, service price, innovation and investment. Although we are glad the Commission is no longer blind to a broken market, we are disappointed that it apparently lacks the political courage to acknowledge these problems by concluding that the market does not demonstrate effective competition.

So again, in trying to make everybody happy by walking a vague, nebulous middle ground, the FCC has managed to make nobody happy. That said, this is the first time in six years the report hasn’t concluded that the industry was “effectively competitive,” something that has greatly annoyed AT&T and company. As an aside, despite the FCC’s new found love for things like blogging and Twitter, their base website is still an awful mess, and we’re not seeing this year’s full, extended report online just yet.

Related posts:

  1. So Is The Wireless Sector Competitive Or Not? – As with all network access, it depends where you live…
  2. Wireless Industry Responds To FCC Iquiry On Insane Bills – Will they ultimately volunteer to mimic new EU bill cap model?
  3. FCC Study: $62 Billion To Bring FTTH To The Unserved – $23.5 billion to bring DSL and fixed wireless to the unserved
  4. Yet Another Study Shows U.S. Broadband Mediocre – We’re Still Average At Speed, Price, Availability…
  5. FCC Imposes New Wireless Roaming Rules – Carriers Must Provide Nationwide Roaming on ‘Reasonable’ Terms

Original story here.

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