Should the United States government regulate how much spectrum a particular carrier can own in any given market? The Big Four might be opposed to it, but smaller carriers are clamoring for it. The Rural Telecommunications Group has again urged the FCC to cap a carrier’s spectrum holdings at 110 megahertz below the 3.2 GhZ band in any market. This would mean that no one carrier could gain too much marketshare, opening up various markets for competition from less-financially-advantageous carriers.
Of course, the big carriers argue that such a cap would hold them back from bigger networks. They say that they’re best capable of creating these networks, so they should be allowed to. And, surprisingly, there’s some truth in that statement. However, there are plenty of drawbacks as well. Chief among them is the likelihood that prices never drop, because competition will be thin.
Here’s the thing, though. Regulation is needed in industries with high barriers to entry like wireless. You can’t just go start your own wireless Internet company today. You need spectrum, and they’re not making any more of it. The big wireless carriers own it, and so it would appear they have an oligopoly.
Related posts:
