CellRev

Some of you that have read about the problem with the American wireless industry may be thinking something along the lines of: “hey, my phone works just fine for me and my bill isn’t too bad, why should I care about all this mobile rights stuff?” Well, there are many reasons why fighting for mobile rights should be of great importance to every mobile user. In America today the prices of mobile services are high and their capabilities limited because their is little competition between mobile operators. If the anti-competitive tactics used by mobile operators were outlawed, every consumer would benefit greatly. With the adoption of a universal standard enforced upon all mobile operators and only open, unlocked devices being sold, consumers would have the freedom to switch devices or operators anytime they want, which would drive down the prices of devices and services alike. Further, an open wireless industry would encourage innovation and entrepreneurship, allowing new devices and services to be created on a level playing field, offering you the latest technology at globally competitive prices.

We know that enforcing regulation to create an open industry would work because it has in the past. Although it’s rarely recalled today, the landline phone industry used to operate much like the wireless industry does today. Before 1984 there was really only one phone company in the United States, AT&T, which through its numerous subsidiaries held a monopoly over every aspect of its customers interaction with the telephone network. Just like today’s wireless customers, AT&T customers weren’t allowed to switch phones without asking or paying there local AT&T subsidiary, and they were only allowed to chose from a handful of phones designed for and sold by AT&T. For 71 years Americans accepted this totalitarian business model as reasonable and normal, until 1984 when we decided that their policies were in fact unfair and anticompetitive, and the ways of AT&T were outlawed. That decision created an open market for landline phones, one where phone service was totally separated from phone hardware. This resulted in hundreds of new companies being founded to provide phone service and phones themselves, giving consumers the freedom to choose from a variety of cheap, high quality phones and services.

In retrospect the tactics of the old AT&T seem ridiculous, and hopefully one day we can look back on the current wireless industry in the same way, but today we need to start a revolution like we did in 1984. Undoubtedly, an open wireless industry would result in higher quality services and lower prices for consumers, which is why all mobile users should care about mobile rights.