Incoming FCC head to probe cellphone partnerships
updated 02:10 pm EDT, Fri June 19, 2009
FCC probes cell exclusives
The next head of the Federal Communications Commission, Julius Genachowski, has promised to investigate the exclusives forged between phone makers and cellular carriers, Reuters reports. The information comes by way of a letter from Genachowski, written in response to an initial prompt from Sen. John Kerry and three other members of the Senate Commerce Committee. The FCC should not only investigate exclusives, the committee suggests, it should act "expeditiously" if it finds that deals are unfairly harming competition or public choice.
The committee letter, related to Genachowski's confirmation, was mainly spurred by a recent petition from the Rural Cellular Association, calling for the FCC to probe the impact of exclusives. The Apple iPhone for instance can only be used on AT&T's cellular networks, giving the latter an inviolable edge when competing with local carriers, as well as national ones like Sprint and T-Mobile. "Yes, if confirmed, I will ensure that the full record on the RCA petition is reviewed, and act accordingly to promote competition and consumer choice," writes Genachowski.
On Thursday the acting FCC chairman, Michael Copps, also recommended opening a proceeding on the problem of exclusives. Officials are already said to be making arrangements. One member of the Senate Commerce Committee, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, has already lent her approval. "I am pleased by Acting Chairman Copps' announcement, and look forward to the learning the results of the FCC's proceeding," a statement from Klobuchar says.
Grizzled Veteran
Joined: Jul 2004
Earth to FCC
Verizon and Sprint by choice use CDMA instead of the world standard of GSM. Verizon will be switching over to GSM/LTE in in 2010/2011.
They made their choice a while ago and now they are having to deal with a lack of phone models because of that decision to use a North American standard instead of the one the rest of the world uses.