The FCC is interested in learning more about the wireless industry's competitiveness, innovation, and billing practices. CTIA President & CEO Steve Largent discusses the association's eagerness to share the great wireless story with the Commission, and emphasizes the need for additional spectrum to satisfy the growing consumer demand for wireless data services. To learn more watch this segment from our September installment of our Wonder of Wireless webcast, and take a few moments to see what else we have to offer in our September WOW.

This morning we filed an ex parte with the FCC to highlight the significant contributions the wireless industry is making to aid the revitalization of our short and long-term economic health.

President Barack Obama has made it very clear that broadband is vital for the U.S. In a Washington Post column on February 5, 2009, President Obama said “now is the time to create jobs that remake America for the 21st century by rebuilding aging roads, bridges and levees; designing a smart electrical grid; and connecting every corner of the country to the information superhighway.”

Indeed, as our nation struggles in a fiercely competitive global marketplace to revitalize once unchallenged industries, mobile broadband services bring opportunities, increased productivity and represent a beacon on the path toward renewed economic prosperity.

Highlights of the filing are:

• In 2007, U.S. wireless services delivered nearly $100 billion in “value added” contributions to the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (“GDP”).
• Going forward, estimates place productivity gains from wireless broadband services at almost $860 billion between 2005 and 2016.

Jobs/Compensation:

• Economic contributions of wireless services have grown significantly faster than the rest of the U.S. economy, averaging over 16% growth vs. less than 3% for the remainder of the economy.
• Wireless jobs command compensation that is more than 50% higher than the national average of other production workers.
• Wireless carriers directly employ more than 268,000 people, a number that has grown more than 6% year-over-year for the last four years.
• Beyond direct carrier employment, more than 2.4 million American jobs are either directly or indirectly dependent on the U.S. wireless industry.

Equipment/Network Investment:

• Total wireless expenditures on structures and equipment from 1998-2007 amounted to more than $217 billion.
• Carriers responding to CTIA’s Semi-Annual Survey reported an average combined investment of more than $22.8 billion per year to upgrade their networks from 2001 through 2008.
• As of December 2008, wireless carriers have deployed over 240,000 cell sites across the country.
• Clearly, wireless voice and broadband services are major contributors to the U.S. economy through the massive capital investments of wireless providers, by creating high-paying, skilled jobs across the country and with billions of dollars of direct and indirect benefits flowing from the innovative wireless services and applications consumers demand.

 To view the filing, please click here  .

CTIA filed an ex parte today with the FCC that examines how the U.S. wireless industry measures up in the global marketplace. Using data from Merrill Lynch, the filing shows in detail how the U.S. leads the market for wireless services among 26 of the largest OECD countries. Once again, wireless in America is at the forefront in overall value, competition and innovation. Specifically, the U.S. continues to lead the world in minutes-of-use, has the lowest revenue per minute, has the least concentrated wireless market and is the global frontrunner in efficient use of spectrum resources.

Last year we began taking an in-depth look at how wireless in America stacks up against the rest of the world. This came in response to OECD broadband rankings that didn’t include wireless broadband. Our initial research last year found the U.S. leads the world in wireless providing more services for less per minute-of-use than any of the OECD’s top ten countries. Nonetheless, there continues to be a lot of discussion and debate on the state of U.S. wireless service. Today’s filing features clear-cut facts to dispel some of the more popular myths. This ex parte is an update to our prior filing in 2008 and expands the comparisons to 26 countries.  

Here are some of the U.S.-focused highlights:

• The price-per-minute of service is the lowest of the 26 OECD countries tracked by Merrill Lynch.
• Consumers have the highest minutes-of-use per month of the 26 OECD countries tracked y Merrill Lynch.
• The U.S. has the least concentrated market, and accordingly, the lowest HHI.
• At least 33 companies manufacture wireless devices for the U.S. market. 
• Consumers can choose from nearly 630 wireless devices.
• In the last year alone, six different companies have launched or announced application stores, giving consumers access to over 60,000 applications.
• Subscriber counts for high-speed wireless lines more than doubled and advanced wireless service lines more than tripled in the last year. 
• The percentage of consumers actively using mobile Internet capabilities is higher than any other country according to Nielsen.

Additionally, wireless broadband has been the fastest growing segment of the broadband industry according to the latest FCC data.  In 2007 alone, the number of wireless broadband subscribers more than doubled!

Ultimately, this means that U.S. wireless consumers enjoy an unparalleled value in service, driven by the competition and innovation in the wireless industry.  

For more information and to access the entire filing, click here.  

The holidays are always a great time for all of us to take a step back and realize how fortunate we are, to appreciate the gifts that we have, and to perhaps find some way to help others who aren't as lucky. While many of you might consider donating to the numerous outstanding charities, I'd like to throw out a couple of ideas that won't take much time or effort, but could make a huge difference in someone's life.

First, if you haven't signed up to receive free Wireless AMBER Alerts, please think about doing that today. It only takes a few moments, and your participation could literally be the difference between life and death for an abducted child. The limited number of text messages that you'll receive in a year's time are free, and there isn't a more valuable presen that you could provide a child in such desperate need, over the holidays or any time of year, than the gift of life.

Second, the wireless industry is proud of its partnership with the American Red Cross and support of its disaster relief efforts, and wireless subscribers have the opportunity to make a small donation ($5) to this noble and necessary assistance through our Text2HELP program. As with Wireless AMBER Alerts, the process only takes a few moments, and you can rest assured your contribution will be put to great use at a time when those affected by disasters are most in need. 

From all of his here at CTIA-The Wireless Association®, thanks for considering these opportunities to help. We wish all of you and your families a peaceful and happy holiday season! 

Few of us like anyone telling us how to do our jobs, but in the case of the FCC, it is a required part of the job. The most recent round of  ‘tell us what you think’ pertains to spectrum in the 2155-2175 band, so-called AWS-3. This is the same chunk of spectrum that M2Z made a run at not too long ago, pitching the FCC on the idea that M2Z should be given the spectrum so it could offer ‘free’ advertising-based service. The FCC wisely rejected that silly notion, but now the Commission appears to be weighing another M2Z proposal to auction off that same spectrum, with the string attached that the winner must offer free service in that spectrum. It’s not literally the giveaway M2Z wanted in the first go-round, but it still amounts to suggesting the FCC stack the rules in favor of a specific company, providing them a proverbial free lunch at American taxpayers’ expense and harming consumers and licensees that have already ponied up billions of dollars in past auctions to offer wireless services. That’s a bad idea, and no agency of the US government has any business playing that game.  
 
There are all kinds of legal grounds on which arguments can be made as to why the FCC should not custom fit the rules for M2Z’s benefit. In fact, the Commission only has to consider fundamental principles to figure out the best means of going forward. For example, what’s worked in the past, and what hasn’t?

M2Z’s business model is nothing new. It’s been rolled out several times in the past, and has been an unquestionable flop. (For a current reference, see ‘Muni-WiFi’). At the same time, the FCC’s auction process has encouraged competitive bidding on unencumbered spectrum, historically resulting in service providers adding billions of dollars to the U.S. Treasury, and fierce competition that has led to a multitude of consumer benefits. The auction process works, and M2Z’s business model doesn’t. Simple, right?
 
Another basic consideration is the spectrum that has already been made available via auctions, such as AWS-1, and what rights those licensees hold. They spent nearly $14 billion to buy that spectrum, and many more billions to build-out their networks… and did so under the existing FCC rules. Is it fair now to play the shell game with them, change the rules to the advantage of a specific business plan, as well as disregard the numerous interference issues that M2Z acknowledges, yet continues to shove under the rug? The interference that will be caused by M2Z’s “AWS-3” operations is real, as is a similar problem for PCS licensees that will arise under the proposed rules in the so-called AWS-2 “H Block”.  American consumers, not to mention the companies which have already sunk billions of dollars into their competitive businesses, deserve better.

There is universal agreement that broadband deployment can be a key social and economic driver in the U.S., and the FCC’s statistics show that Americans are significantly favoring wireless as their newest on-ramp to the Internet. But, the reach of wireless broadband is being extended in a vibrantly competitive free market, and government intervention by arbitrary rulemaking is doomed to fail.  

There’s just no good reason why the FCC should morph the rules so that a well-funded company such as M2Z can lap the field with the commission’s help. I’m not going to join the chorus and tell the FCC how to do its job. That’s what an ex parte is for. But if the commission truly believes in its historically successful auction process, and creating the best possible communications environment for American consumers, then it should stay out of the business of trying to select winners and losers, and stick to what works and is fair for everyone.