FCC Should Find Wireless Industry Is Competitive, FSF Says

The FCC is sowing confusion by consistently failing to find in its annual wireless competition reports that the U.S. wireless market is effectively competitive, said Seth Cooper of the Free State Foundation Monday in a blog post. The FCC Wireless Bureau is seeking comment on the next version of the report (see 1505290049). The FCC’s first seven wireless competition reports didn't include any conclusions on whether the industry was effectively competitive, though the next six reports concluded it was. Reports released under the Obama administration have declined to find the industry competitive. “What's truly misleading is treating tremendous innovation and rapid adoption of new wireless products and services as the basis for refusing to acknowledge the competitive state of the market,” Cooper wrote. “The transformative advancements in wireless are ... unambiguous signs of strong competition. Perceived lack of effective competition offers the basis -- or at least the pretense -- for intrusive government regulatory controls over the market.” The signs of a competitive market are easy to see, he said. “In only a decade, the wireless market has transformed from an analog, voice-centric service into a digital, broadband-centric multimedia service of sophistication and variety,” he said. “Smartphones containing unique mobile operating systems and featuring an abundance of applications now run on high-speed, high-capacity next-generation networks.”