The Department of Justice said wireless broadband services may be an attractive option for users without high-speed Internet access and could provide more competition to cable, fiber and DSL services. But such options can’t be possible unless federal regulators release more spectrum for mobile broadband services, reports the Washington Post.
The comments (pdf) by the antitrust division of Justice were filed Monday to the Federal Communications Commission, which is working on a National Broadband Plan. There’s a growing agreement among regulators and operators that the current allocated spectrum won’t support the explosive growth of wireless smartphone use in the near future.
It argued that companies like Clearwire, Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile, which are trying to develop next-generation wireless broadband services, need more airwaves to compete with cable modem, DSL or fiber optic-based services.
Cable operators (along with cellular operators AT&T and Verizon) are currently sitting on billions of dollars worth of AWS spectrum, of course.
When a phone company like AT&T offers both wired and wireless Internet service in an area, it doesn’t have much incentive to compete with itself, said Mark Cooper, director of research at the Consumer Federation of America, a consumer advocacy group.
Justice said the FCC should shift “underutilized” spectrum to the hands of wireless carriers. And the agency warned that when giving spectrum, the FCC should take in to consideration how the largest telecom companies could further concentrate their market power through an auction.
The agency also noted that competition among providers of fixed wire and wireless broadband services may be determined by some of the largest telecom providers such as AT&T and Verizon Communications, which operate both services.
The comments were submitted as part of the FCC’s push to bring affordable and attractive broadband services to all U.S. homes. Consumer groups have criticized the FCC’s national broadband plan for fearing they wouldn’t bring in new competitors.
