Last week, the FCC voted to begin inquiries into innovation in the wireless industry, the state of competition in the "wireless ecosystem," and whether consumers have enough information about their mobile plans and bills. The five-member commission unanimously approved all three inquiries, but the decision to launch the probes produced a wide array of reactions. FierceWireless contacted a range of players--including carriers and public interest groups--to gauge their responses to the FCC's votes, and to determine how they plan to respond.
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What do you think of the FCC's inquiries? Did the commission take the right approach? And how will you work with the FCC?
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"With the notice of inquiry, the FCC--under Chairman Genachowski's leadership--is asking the right questions to maximize innovation across the wireless ecosystem. Skype is confident that the commission can improve on the existing levels of competition in wireless by enabling a new source of competition and innovation--from software companies--to drive demand for more affordable wireless broadband to more Americans. We welcome this inquiry and look forward to working with the commission to develop the right policies to maximize innovation and choice." --Christopher Libertelli, Skype's senior director of government and regulatory affairs
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Sprint Nextel will, of course, cooperate with the FCC's inquiry. We are hopeful that, as part of this inquiry, the commission will examine the impact vertically integrated telecommunications companies have on the wireless industry, particularly with regards to special-access pricing." --Vonya McCann, Sprint Nextel's vice president of government affairs
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The commission took exactly the right path when it voted to look at all aspects of competition in the wireless industry. For too long, the appearance of competition among a few carriers has masked underlying anti-competitive industry practices ranging from consumer contracts to roaming agreements. We also hope that as part of the commission's ambitious agenda to examine the wireless market and to encourage innovation that it will act soon on our petition to declare that wireless carriers cannot block text messages or decline to provide short codes based on the content of the message or short code." --Gigi Sohn, Public Knowledge's president and co-founder
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We praise the FCC's dedication to advancing innovation in our industry. We especially commend the chairman for understanding that spectrum availability is crucial to the success of our industry. We look forward to working with the commission to provide guidance on policy reform that will best support our industry's continued innovation." --Kathleen Ham, T-Mobile USA's vice present of federal regulatory affairs
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Cellular South welcomes the FCC's interest in examining competition--or lack thereof--in the wireless service industry, and we intend to participate fully in the commission's proceedings. The largest carriers and their surrogates tirelessly claim that our industry is competitive and innovative, yet these are the very carriers that try to prevent competition and stifle innovation. The wireless industry is not truly competitive when the largest two carriers are able to restrict access to wireless devices, refuse reasonable data roaming agreements, force artificially high prices for special access services, and continue to warehouse spectrum, often by handing off licenses to each other in order to gain regulatory approval for acquisitions." --Eric Graham, Cellular South vice president of government relations
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The commission's actions to further examine competition and innovation in the wireless industry are overdue. Consumers face a mobile marketplace that lacks competition and choice. We are especially encouraged that the FCC is looking into a broader range of wireless competition issues such as spectrum allocation, roaming agreements, special access and other factors that we believe highlight anti-consumer and anti-competitive practice in the wireless industry. These inquires will help the FCC to fully understand the problems of the wireless industry and give them ammunition to guide policymaking that safeguards the public interest." --Ben Scott, policy director for Free Press
Click here for more responses from Verizon Wireless, Leap Wireless, CTIA and more.