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Sep. 13, 2009

The CTIA (Cellular Telephone Industries Association) has submitted a new filing to the Federal Communications Commission that compares the U.S. wireless industry with the U.K., based on a report issued by Britain's Office of Communications (OFCOM) issued more than two months ago.

The U.S. market has "more competitors, lower concentration, lower prices, higher usage and even innovative services" than the U.K., said CTIA in a statement.

The industry association cites the market share of Tier 1 companies as a main indicator of the competitiveness of the U.S. market. In the United Kingdom, the top four wireless carriers have 93.5 percent of the market, and the top 5 network operators have 100 percent of the market, says CTIA.

By comparison, the top 4 U.S. carriers serve about 85 percent of the market. The top 5 serve less than 90 percent, and the remaining ten percent is made up of numerous competing wireless carriers.

In its filing, the CTIA argues that the market in America is a world leader in wireless services when measured with the standards applied by OFCOM, the United Kingdom's independent regulator.

The filing comes on the heels of another report from the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OECD) that suggests the highest prices for mobile calls were found in Canada, Spain and the United States, with the lowest found in Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden.

For its part, the CTIA further argues that U.S. mobile consumers pay less for their service than those in the U.K. The price per minute in the U.K. is 12 cents versus 5 cents in the United States.

Additionally, the cell phone minutes of use per month in the U.K. is below 200, while in the U.S., it is above 800.

The CTIA also said that report was written on flawed assumptions and that U.S. consumers enjoy the lowest per-minute rates of all the OECD countries which isn't exactly accurate.

The CTIA is currently under immense pressure to defend competitive practices in the wireless industry after the FCC launched a sweeping inquiry into the state of the industry that includes an examination of handset exclusivity deals.

A full-scale inquiry into Apple's rejection of Google's Voice was launched by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski in August. AT&T and Apple both denied any wrongdoing.

For its part, AT&T said it had no role in approving or denying applications and that Apple said it had not actually rejected Google Voice, but was still reviewing the application.

Apple has since approved a VoIP application from Vonage. However, some tests aren't completed yet but are expected to be by Oct. 15.

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Source: The Cellular Telephone Industries Association.