Former FCC chief: U.S. wireless market is behind
Speeches by FCC bigwigs usually are pretty boring. Most of the time they involve a lot of policy minutiae, grandiose plans to improve rural broadband access, or some hand-wringing over the amount of sex and violence on television. Even when the speech concerns something that has a lot of implications, like the ongoing 700MHz auction, you tend to zone out after the first few minutes.
Reed Hundt
(Credit: Intel)But after an FCC chief leaves office, it can be a different story. Yesterday, the FCC chairman who served under President Clinton gave an interview to Telephony Online. In the interview, Reed Hundt talked about a lot of things, including the 700Mhz and the universal service charge that we see on all cell phone bills. Yet what really caught my eye were his comments on the U.S. wireless market.
"[The U.S.] is the last market in the world that people choose to bring a new wireless product to." he said. "Not second or third--the absolute last." While I would agree with that statement in principle--Moto usually favors its home territory first--it was interesting to see it spelled out that way. A lack of high-end devices is a common complaint of U.S. cell phones users, and though many reasons have been identified, Hundt laid out another factor that I hadn't considered previously. "Right now the policy of the FCC has been to encourage AT&T and Verizon to become the twin Bells that dominate the wireless business. They're allowed to buy all the spectrum they can find," he said. "This is the only country in the world where the rule is the big guys can buy all of it...It's very hard for innovators to get into the market, in terms of content or software or hardware."
Though I've always though that the large carriers often stifle wireless innovation in the United States, I hadn't thought about it in that particular way. Granted, Hundt was nominated by a Democrat, and he may have a small ax to grind with the Bush administration, but I think he still has a point. Shutting smaller companies out of the spectrum bidding process certainly wouldn't encourage much innovation. Hundt mentioned that Mexico, Canada, the United Kingdom, China, and Japan carve out spectrum for new entrants. Perhaps the FCC should do the same. Admittedly, it doesn't sound like such a bad idea. What do you think?
Kent German is a senior editor for cell phone reviews at CNET. When he's not testing the newest handsets on the market, he's blogging about cell phone news for Crave. In his On Call column, he answers reader questions and gives his take on the rapidly changing mobile industry. E-mail Kent. 
It's an unfortunate products of our capatalist system that the only way a company can grow is if it's already big. Any small venture that will see success will surely be bought out for their product/service by one of the biggest so they can stay one of the biggest.
I know I tried to work with a small, more homegrown company for mobile phone service, but the rates were not as good, the coverage area was small and they make a pretty clear statement that roaming uses others networks (which may cause a charge to appear on a bill). When the big companies can offer you a service like a phone (one that's relatively easy to maintain unlike a data service) it's hard not to see all the advantages of the bigger companies.
Now that data is becoming a bigger deal maker as far as mobility goes, the big companies are struggling to find what will provide them with the best technology to stay on top, and the little guys can't compete with the extremely large monetary investment it would take to make a ripple in the water of the current market.
I think that the European market displays how the smaller areas of the countries keep companies broken up enough to allow new technologies to be rolled out and be successful while having less overhead to start up. If each state had different restrictions to the point that one company couldn't cover them all I believe we would see a similar situation develop here. However, we wouldn't be a unified nation in the same way here in the U.S.
My 2 cents.
It's an unfortunate products of our capatalist system that the only way a company can grow is if it's already big. Any small venture that will see success will surely be bought out for their product/service by one of the biggest so they can stay one of the biggest.
I know I tried to work with a small, more homegrown company for mobile phone service, but the rates were not as good, the coverage area was small and they make a pretty clear statement that roaming uses others networks (which may cause a charge to appear on a bill). When the big companies can offer you a service like a phone (one that's relatively easy to maintain unlike a data service) it's hard not to see all the advantages of the bigger companies.
Now that data is becoming a bigger deal maker as far as mobility goes, the big companies are struggling to find what will provide them with the best technology to stay on top, and the little guys can't compete with the extremely large monetary investment it would take to make a ripple in the water of the current market.
I think that the European market displays how the smaller areas of the countries keep companies broken up enough to allow new technologies to be rolled out and be successful while having less overhead to start up. If each state had different restrictions to the point that one company couldn't cover them all I believe we would see a similar situation develop here. However, we wouldn't be a unified nation in the same way here in the U.S.
My 2 cents.
Its not just the phones. Go to blogs, and every day you'll see an announcement of a new product thats only for South Korea, or only for Japan. The big carriers sell what they are offered, and what is offered is last year's model.
- Big carriers -- not so much ...
- by Michael too February 29, 2008 3:22 PM PST
- It really has nothing to do with the big carriers. As a country (except for Moto) we have outsourced all of our consumer electronic manufacturers.
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(4 Comments)Its not just the phones. Go to blogs, and every day you'll see an announcement of a new product thats only for South Korea, or only for Japan. The big carriers sell what they are offered, and what is offered is last year's model.