A few months ago I wrote a series of rants about the future of the wireless market in the US. I devoted the last of those posts to my least favorite subject, regulation. Mainly I was surprised at how little attention had been paid to wireless during last year’s debates about net neutrality, since wireless carriers block content providers and services all the time.
It seems that Columbia law professor Tim Wu was paying a lot of attention (to wireless net neutrality, not to me). On Valentine’s day he presented a paper about it to the FTC. And yesterday Skype filed a petition with the FCC demanding that mobile operators carry Skype calls over their networks.
The head of the CTIA, the wireless industry association, was terribly upset:
"Skype’s self-interested filing contains glaring legal flaws and a
complete disregard for the vast consumer benefits provided by the
competitive marketplace," said Steve Largent, chief executive of the CTIA
in a prepared statement. "Skype’s ‘recommendations’ will freeze the
innovation and choice hundreds of millions of consumers enjoy today.
The call for imposing monopoly era Carterfone rules to today’s vibrant
market is unmistakably the wrong number," Largent said.
"Unmistakably the wrong number." Now there’s a ringing phrase. I wonder what he is so hung up about. Ahem.