Federal law tries to have it both ways, allowing the cable companies to own cable channels, but barring them from discriminating against rival channels. Trouble is, this puts the FCC in the position of calling balls and strikes on what constitutes discrimination. And the commission’s decision last year to reverse …
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By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: anti-discrimination rules, FCC, Robert Litan, Time Warner | Category: Quick Takes, Telecommunications Regulation |
 Leave a commentScott Cleland of the Precursorblog.com argues that Apple and Google have different incentives to respect the privacy of their customers. He correctly points out that Google makes its money from advertising, while Apple thrives on selling trend-setting gadgets like iPhones and iPads (Note to self: Did someone forget … By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: Apple, Bing, Google, Internet privacy, Microsoft, Precursorblog, Scott Cleland, two-sided market, Yahoo! | Category: Telecommunications Regulation |
Leave a commentSoon smartphones, tablets and as-yet barely imagined gadgets will be as ubiquitous as MP3 players, opening the door to a wireless future in which everything from professional sports to MRI scans will be available on demand anytime, anywhere. Or maybe not: much turns on the outcome of a struggle between … By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: Broadband, FCC, Genachowski, LTE, Spectrum, wireless | Category: Telecommunications Regulation |
Leave a commentEconomists Greg Rosston and Scott Wallsten argue that the FCC should take the cash now collected from everybody’s phone bills to extend voice service to poor people and remote areas, and redirect the money to high-speed Internet service (read broadband). They recommend experimenting to see which approaches to … AT&T and T-Mobile USA want to get hitched in order to get a jump on the competition in completing a superfast 4G wireless broadband network. Are other mergers, designed to boost the market power of content providers in the coming world of broadband anywhere/everywhere, now in the works? Dennis Berman, … By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: AT&T, Dennis Berman, T-Mobile, wireless broadband | Category: Quick Takes, Telecommunications Regulation |
Leave a commentAT&T announced plans to acquire T-Mobile USA for a cool $39 billion. The next move is up to the Department of Justice, the Federal Trade Commission, and the Federal Communications Commission. If these authorities take a conventional, old-style approach to merger analysis, AT&T could face resistance. But if authorities focus on the critical … Open software platforms, like Google’s Android, are all the rage. And for good reason: they offer a faster route to building an applications portfolio. But they are no panacea: Android had a scare recently where it was invaded by some third-party apps bearing malicious code. Will one platform … By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: Android, Google, open platform | Category: Quick Takes, Telecommunications Regulation |
Leave a commentIn the United States, it usually isn’t hard to find a phone: there are 286 million mobile handsets and 141 million landlines in service — 137 phones for every 100 Americans. Nonetheless, Congress sees fit to tax users close to $9 billion annually to provide access to those who might … By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: Broadband, FCC, Universal Service Fund | Category: Telecommunications Regulation |
Leave a commentMetroPCS, you may or may not know, is a regional wireless carrier that has created a viable market niche with cheapish, no-contract, all-you-can-talk/text plans – and in the process, put competitive pressure on the big carriers. Hence the irony that it is now under … By Robert Hahn, Peter Passell | Tags: 4G, FCC, Free Press, LTE, MetroPCS, tiered pricing | Category: Telecommunications Regulation |
One commentPerhaps it’s the air or the water. But something about Washington encourages the otherwise sane to talk jibberish even — no, especially — when the subject is markets. Or so it seems when reading some of the jeremiads against Federal Communications Commission Chairman Julius Genachowski’s recent proposal for ending the … |
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