Friday, August 21, 2009
Wireless Industry Attorneys Stacking Up on NoDoz, Frozen Pizzas
Next week looks to be a painful one for big American wireless carriers. The Federal Communications Commission has announced its agenda for Thursday’s Open Commission meeting and it implies some long days ahead for wireless industry attorneys. Among the issues to be discussed: The state of competition in the wireless market, carrier handset vendor-exclusivity deals like those between Apple and AT&T, fee-setting and “truth in billing.”
The Federal Communications Commission’s efforts to determine whether exclusive handset deals are promoting or hindering innovation in the wireless market are moving ahead with a focus on rural areas. That’s the word from agency Chairman Julius Genachowski, who says he’s concerned not just with the competitive ramifications of carrier-exclusivity deals but with their tendency to limit customer access to top smartphones. 
Earlier this year, Christine Varney, the new antitrust chief at the Department of Justice, said she planned to return the DOJ to a policy that led to landmark antitrust suits like the one against Microsoft in the ’90s. And she delivered on that promise in short order. Since her confirmation in late April, the DOJ has seen a sort of Trustbuster renaissance. It has begun inquiring into potentially anticompetitive recruiting practices in Silicon Valley. It’s opened an investigation into the Google Books settlement. And now it’s scrutinizing cellphone exclusivity deals, like the lucrative one between Apple and AT&T.
