In a Hillcon Valley blog post on Monday, Ruth Milkman, FCC's Wireless Bureau chief said, "There is tremendous agreement that wireless is vibrant and contributes to the economy. It’s a phenomenal set of services and applications."
 
We couldn't agree more. While we may be a bit biased, I think all of us have been impressed by some wireless app, device, technology, etc. As I mentioned in yesterday's post on our filing to the FCC on innovation and investment, this is an industry that is responsive to consumers and fiercely competes with one another for each customer. 
 
In CTIA's wireless competition filing to the FCC  in response, we highlight numerous examples of how the wireless ecosystem (made up of carriers, infrastructure suppliers, device manufacturers, operating system providers, and applications developers) remains competitive at every level.
 
This means that consumers and businesses are benefiting from the lowest prices, highest minutes of use, most innovative services and devices, most robust mobile broadband networks, and least concentrated wireless market among our global competitors.
 
But this fiercely competitive state of the mobile industry was no accident: it emerged from long-standing, market-driven policies, embraced on a bipartisan basis, favoring flexibility over command-and-control and competition over economic regulation.
 
Finally, we also highlighted additional steps (starting on page 77) that the Commission can take to facilitate on-going competition and ensure that consumers will continue to reap tremendous benefits from the mobile wireless sector. 
 
After all, as John Donovan, AT&T’s CTO said in his keynote at CTIA WIRELESS I.T. & Entertainment Show last week, “It’s a customer’s world; we’re just a part of it.”

To kick off the first day at International CTIA WIRELESS I.T. & Entertainment 2009®, we released our Semi-Annual Wireless Industry Survey. 

While you can read the specifics about the survey, I thought I’d highlight a few interesting statistics that clearly demonstrate the wireless industry’s continued growth:

Wireless data service revenues for the first half of 2009 climbed to more than $19.4 billion—a 31% increase from the first half of 2008.

• There are more than 276 million wireless subscribers.
• More than 740 billion text messages were reported for the first half of 2009—breaking down to 4.1 billion messages per day— which is nearly double the amount of texts reported for the first half of 2008. 
• 1.1 trillion minutes were used in the first half of 2009—breaking down to 6.4 billion minutes-of-use per day.
• More than 246 million data-capable devices are in the hands of consumers today.  More than 40 million of these devices are Smartphones or wireless-enabled PDAs and more than 10 million are wireless-enabled laptops, notebooks or aircards.

This impressive industry growth wouldn’t be possible without the fiercely competitive and innovative wireless marketplace where companies continue to rise to the challenge to meet consumer demand. I’m looking forward to visiting our exhibitors this week to see this incredible innovation on display.

If you would like to learn more, please listen to our podcast with Dr. Robert Roche, CTIA’s VP of Research who elaborates on our mid-year survey's key findings & discusses the industry’s continued growth.

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.

Communication during a natural disaster is critically important, a fact that is reinforced in emergency situations. As 4th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina passed late last month, CTIA marks the occasion withthis look at how service providers place a high priority in keeping their networks up and running in challenged times. 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.

I issued the statement below in response to today’s FCC Open Commission Meeting:

“CTIA and the wireless industry appreciate the opportunity to respond to the Notices of Inquiry and to provide the Chairman and Commissioners, as well as other policy-makers, with information on the status of the evolving wireless ecosystem.  Whether it be the almost 100,000 applications that are now available to consumers since the opening of the first applications store 14 months ago, or the launch in the United States of the newest smart phones, or the ability of more consumers in the U.S than anywhere else on the planet to access the highest speed wireless networks, or the lowest price per minute of the 26 countries tracked by Merrill Lynch, or the highest minutes of use of those same 26 countries, or the fact that we have the least concentrated wireless market on the planet, or the evolution in the way services are sold – we are excited to tell the industry’s story.  The wireless ecosystem – from carriers, to handset manufacturers, to network providers, to operating system providers, to application developers – is evolving before our eyes and this is not the same market that it was even three years ago.  In this industry, innovation is everywhere.” 

For an independent review of the wireless industry, please click here. 

Over the last few weeks, I've been talking with reporters and bloggers about the new FCC and its focus on the wireless industry. As you've probably read, we are looking forward to educating the FCC (and policymakers) on the facts about the industry. We have a great story and we look forward to the opportunity to share this information with them.
 
Since the agenda for the August 27th meeting has been released, many of those interviews have touched on the three NOIs (notice of inquiry). Specifically, there are two that are focused on the wireless industry – one on innovation and investment and the other on competition. The third is focused on truth-in-billing across numerous industries, including wireless.
 
Here are a few of the stories that have been published based on these interviews:

• 8/24 - ComputerWorld -- Wireless industry defends itself against mounting criticism
• 8/21 - CNET -- FCC takes a closer look at wireless industry
• 8/21 - Forbes -- Telecom facing more active FCC
• 8/17 - GigaOM -- For better mobile broadband, the U.S. needs more spectrum
  

I don’t think you can turn on a TV or read the news without seeing something on healthcare reform. 

But regardless of your opinion on the issue, I think we can all agree that reducing medical costs and errors, removing geographical and economic disparities, and reinforcing consumer-focused & personalized healthcare is a must. 

This is why CTIA, along with a growing number of medical and health policy experts, are talking about mobile wireless technologies and applications that are reshaping the healthcare landscape. Mobile wireless services are in the hands of more than 270 million subscribers – and mHealth solutions are improving healthcare services for millions regardless of location, race, age, gender, or disability. 

A recent article on Fortune.com by TMNG Global’s Richard Nespola paints an interesting picture of how mHealth solutions are cutting costs and changing the way we provide medical care in America.  

CTIA’s “mHealth Solutions and Policy Forum 2009” was mentioned in the story as a recent example of the wireless industry bringing together officials from the White House, Congress, and CDC, along with policy and medical experts to discuss the important role mHealth solutions play in healthcare reform. 

To see video highlights of the event, please click here. And, to learn more about mHealth Solutions, click here. 

This afternoon, we issued the following statement in response to the OECD Communications Outlook report on usage and cost for mobile phone calls:

The headline from the recently released OECD Communications Outlook report reads that Finland, the Netherlands, and Sweden have the lowest prices for mobile phone calls among OECD countries, while the highest prices were found in Canada, Spain, and the United States. But since U.S. consumers enjoy the lowest per minute rates of all of the OECD countries, what today’s OECD report really shows is that some international comparisons just don’t make sense – especially when built on flawed assumptions. 

The real story is buried on page 275 of the OECD report which states:

“It is important to note again that the OECD calling pattern in the basket can be significantly different than common calling profiles in a specific country. For example, the high-usage OECD basket includes 1,680 outgoing voice calls per year while users in the United States average 9,600 minutes of voice calls (combined incoming and outgoing) per year. In this case the basket provides the cost of buying exactly the calls and messages in the OECD basket rather than what may be considered a ‘typical’ bundle in the market.”

Since the average U.S. calling profile is nearly three times greater than the OECD’s “high usage” basket (and, in fact, the average U.S. calling profile is nearly six times greater than the OECD’s “average” usage basket), it is no surprise that most other sources show the price per-call (or price per-MOU) in the United States is the lowest among the OECD countries. 

How did the OECD get it so wrong? 

Only by picking such unrepresentative "representative" call packages, could the OECD have reached such a result. For example, the OECD defines a “medium use” customer as someone making 780 minutes of calls a year, and sending 600 SMS and 8 MMS messages a year. And the report says that based on their methodology, a U.S. customer would pay $53 a month in order to get that level of service. But that assumed “medium” basket works out to about 63 minutes, 50 SMS messages, and less than one MMS message a month. That just doesn’t reflect reality. 

CTIA’s semi-annual survey shows that the average wireless consumer uses around 760 minutes a month, and over 400 text messages a month. Even if we only count half of those minutes as outgoing minutes (to mirror the OECD assumption), that’s still six times as many minutes as the OECD methodology assumes. Plus, the CTIA survey showed that the average monthly consumer bill is $50.07. Moreover, since the most recent CTIA survey, a number of unlimited voice and text message plans have been introduced by U.S. wireless companies providing U.S. consumers with even greater value. For example, Tracfone offers its “Straight Talk” plan of unlimited minutes and text, nationwide, any time, for $45 a month, and Boost has a $50 a month plan that offers users unlimited talk, text, web and walkie talkie service. 

When you look at the price American consumers actually pay for their wireless service, our per minute rates are the lowest of all the OECD countries.