Bits on Broadband : with Fred Campbell

Since 1995, the FCC has been reporting on the state of competition in the mobile market. These reports are not voluntary. Section 332(c)(1)(C) of the Communications Act requires that the FCC “review competitive market conditions with respect to commercial mobile services and shall include in its annual report an analysis of those conditions . . .” including “an analysis of whether or not there is effective competition.” In its First Report, the FCC found that the mobile telephone service segment of the mobile business was not fully competitive. (First Report at ¶ 84.) The FCC offered similar conclusions in its subsequent reports until the Eighth Report (covering 2002), in which the FCC found that there was effective competition in the mobile market. (Eight Report at ¶ 12.) For the next five reports, the FCC reached the same conclusion – until the Fourteenth Report, when the FCC concluded that “no single definition of effective competition” would be adequate. (Fourteenth Report at ¶ 16.) Because the FCC decided it was “too hard” to define effective competition, it avoided making any finding at all regarding the state of competition in the mobile market. Read the rest of this entry »