Congress holds “iPhone Hearings” — AT&T exclusivity challenged
Congress’s iPhone hearing starts tomorrow.
Its official title is “Wireless Innovation and Consumer Protection,” but “Really, they’re the iPhone hearings,” says public interest lobbyist Ben Scott. The House Subcommittee on Telecommunications and the Internet is expected to consider the future of cellphone and wireless data communications, including the “unbundling” of cellphones from their carriers, while activists are pushing for a new wireless data network in newly-available spectrum. Both developments could ultimately affect AT&T’s exclusive carrier status with Apple.
“We need to unbundle phones,” according to Committee Chairman Ed Markey. He told The Street that “The consumer should be king and should be able to take their device with them, to whichever network provider is offering them a better deal… ”
Wireless carriers find their phone and internet services facing new scrutiny after AT&T’s exclusive carrier deal with Apple’s iPhone. “Congress doesn’t need to run a hearing on whether the iPhone is the coolest, shiniest gadget on the market…” says Scott. “The reason they’re having a hearing is because the iPhone…is going to set the mold. This device and how it’s treated by the Congress and the regulators in Washington is going to determine how we access the internet from now on with every device that follows in the iPhone’s footsteps.”
Markey set the tone for the debate, telling The Street that “the more portable these devices are, the more innovation we’ll see.”
Adding juice to the debate is the upcoming release of new airwave spectrum in early 2008. Reed Hundt, former chairman of the FCC, notes news reports panning the iPhone’s internet service from AT&T as “pokey” and “excrutiatingly slow”. He’s calling for the creation of an open national data network, five times faster than AT&T’s EDGE, as part of the airwave auction — “a new, independent national, high-speed, fourth generation, wireless broadband network available to Steve Jobs and all other entrepreneurs at very low cost.” Noting this auction is “the last of its kind” — a one-time vacancy as TV stations switch over to a different digital spectrum — he warns that the carriers could launch a pre-emptive purchase to eliminate competition for a lifetime. In a nod to Apple, he calls his proposal “a great chance for the new FCC…to accomplish something insanely great. ”
The current chairman of the FCC agreed yesterday – at least with the need for
an open network. “Whoever wins this spectrum has to provide [a] truly open broadband network…,” he told USA Today, “one that will open the door to a lot of innovative services for consumers.”
The same day the CEO of Working Assets continued its attack on the “closed network” model behind AT&T’s exclusive iPhone deal. “Perhaps unfairly, we tend to think of the consumers of Apple products as being a bit more progressive than those who stick to the Microsoft world. We think that they should know that their use of the iPhone will enrich and entrench precisely those forces that are seeking to eliminate the very soul of the internet.”
It’s a unique moment in time, argues blogger Matt Stoller. “Right now, there are a few confluent events that are inspiring a lot of debate around the public airwaves, and it all hinges on the iPhone and its immense significance.” To inspire a discussion, he’s recorded a five-minute video presentation by public interest lobbyist Ben Scott.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LL9C0k3Im-0[/youtube]
In the video Scott argues that “The iPhone, being the bleeding edge of new technology, is really going to set the stage for whether or not we have an open, neutral network in wireless access to the internet.” The future is at stake, he argues, saying this debate will ultimately determine “whether we’re going to have an open internet or a closed system handed over to big corporations.”
Urging consumers to sign an online petition, he adds “Only you can free the iPhone.”
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July 10th, 2007
Is this a joke? It would have made sense to have this debate 15 years ago about cellular networks. Instead the US decided that providers should compete on the basis of the network. Hence, we have multiple, overlapping cellular coverage with incompatible technologies and the devices are just dumbed down appliance — just like the wired phone system was (is) for so long (this benefits the consumer how?). Policy follows the money!! Try contributing to a PAC not signing a petition.
July 10th, 2007
This piqued my curiosity, but, for the love of me, I can’t find this bill anywhere. Closest thing in title is called “S.234 Wireless Innovation Act of 2007″, but that has to do with unused television frequencies. It is rather close in date, but it doesn’t mention cellular carriers or broadcast frequencies other than that of a television.
Surely there would be documentation pointing to this legislation; could I be directed to the relevant information?
July 10th, 2007
The Washington Post mentioned the upcoming “wireless innovation and consumer protection” hearings…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/07/AR2007070700057.html
After the hearings, a bill may be drawn up. But the fact that they’re holding hearings at all is pretty significant.
July 11th, 2007
This article is about a hearing, not a bill. There is no bill yet. Please work on your reading comprehension.
September 25th, 2007
I find this to be hogwash. The issue with the iphone was that the other carriers wanted the iphone to be crippled and use the carrier’s additional data delivery systems
Apple’s innovation in voicemail and integration with itunes are the real reason Iphones are popular, not the carrier issue. There are a heck of a lot more issues to be concerned about other than the Iphone.