U.S. senators ask FCC to review mobile handset deals

[ComicalMoodyDan]

U.S. senators ask FCC to review mobile handset deals
Posted on - Mon Jun 15, 2009 3:54PM EDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -

Several U.S. senators urged regulators on Monday to review exclusive arrangements regarding mobile handset technology between wireless carriers and cell phone makers and how they affect competition and choice in the marketplace.

In a letter to Michael Copps, acting chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the senators said they were concerned about exclusivity.

"We ask that you examine this issue carefully and act expeditiously should you find that exclusivity agreements unfairly restrict consumer choice or adversely impact competition in the commercial wireless marketplace," they wrote.

Democrats John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet; Byron Dorgan of North Dakota; Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Roger Wicker, a Mississippi Republican, signed the June 15 letter.

The Rural Cellular Association, which represents more than 80 rural wireless providers, recently filed a petition urging the FCC to look into how the arrangements affect consumers.

Some exclusive agreements include the iPhone by Apple Inc(AAPL.O) and AT&T Inc (T.N) and the deal between Verizon Wireless (VZ.N) and LG Voyager.

The FCC was asked in the letter if such agreements were becoming prevalent, limiting consumers' ability to take full advantage of handset technologies, manipulating the competitive marketplace between commercial wireless carriers, and playing a role in discouraging innovation.

The senators said they would hold a hearing on Wednesday to examine competition issues and determine if legislative action is necessary.

(Reporting by John Poirier)

U.S. senators ask FCC to review mobile handset deals by Reuters: Yahoo! Tech

[SteveW]

We discussed this issue a little while ago in another thread (Setting the iPhone Free from AT&T), although the Senate hadn't scheduled any hearings at that time. I doubt that Congress is going to restrict the carriers' ability to make exclusive deals. Do they tell Wal-Mart what brands of shoes to carry? Sure the iPhone is a hot product, but these things change quickly in technology and it could be replaced by another hot product.


SW

[SteveW]

(Another article on this topic)

Will the feds force Apple to break up with AT&T?

Four U.S. senators are urging the FCC to examine the issue of exclusivity arrangements between handset carriers and manufacturers, claiming such deals may be anti-competitive

By Ian Paul | PC World
June 16, 2009

Are you fed up with exclusivity arrangements between cell phone carriers and handset makers? If so, you may have allies on Capitol Hill. Four U.S. senators from the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation have sent a letter to Michael J. Copps, acting chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, urging the FCC to examine the issue of exclusivity arrangements between handset carriers and manufacturers.

The letter, which is signed by Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), expresses concern that handset exclusivity arrangements may be anti-competitive and reducing consumer choice in the marketplace.

The letter identifies five major issues the senators want the FCC to examine:

* The increasing prevalence of exclusivity arrangements between cell phone manufacturers and carriers
* How exclusivity agreements may be restricting consumer choice, particularly for consumers living in rural areas
* How exclusivity agreements may place limitations on a consumer's ability to take full advantage of handset technologies, such as the ability to send multimedia messages or the ability to "tether" a device to a computer for internet use
* How exclusivity agreements may be inhibiting the ability of smaller, more regional carriers to compete
* How exclusivity agreements may play a role in encouraging or discouraging innovation within the handset marketplace

The senators' letter follows an FCC petition filed last month by the Rural Cellular Association asking the regulatory body to study how exclusivity arrangements affect consumers. On Wednesday, the Commerce Committee will hold its own hearing on these issues to determine if legislative action is necessary.

It's interesting to note that some concerns spelled out by the senators sound like they're a direct reaction to recent complaints over AT&T's status as the exclusive U.S. provider for Apple's iPhone. When last week Apple announced launch details for iPhone OS 3.0, AT&T was the target of scorn over delays to supporting the iPhone's new tethering and MMS capabilities. In the past, AT&T has also been accused of having spotty 3G coverage in rural areas.

Since the iPhone's introduction in 2007, several handset makers have tried to emulate the popularity of Apple's device by offering exclusivity deals of their own. Two recent examples include the Palm Pre, currently on Sprint's Now Network, and T-Mobile's G1, the first Android-powered handset.



SW

[viewfly]

Over my decade or more of cell phones, exclusivity arrangements have been constant. We just viewed them as 'different carriers carry different phones'. After all, they were just phones. The whole exclusivity complaint only seems to come into play when one phone model is particularly popular and desired. I think the first in the US was the Razr. Before that, Nokia phones were the 'to have' phones and many, many of them were not carrier by all US carriers, and for some nokia phones, not at all - at the whim of Nokia whether they wished to make a phone for a given market or not. And that is still true.

I think the exclusivity thing is over blown. Clearly it doesn't harm creativity - look at the Pre, Bold, Storm and others. IMHO