The Federal Communications Commission has launched an inquiry to ostensibly foster innovation and investment in the wireless marketplace. The findings will shape future wireless regulations.

Through its Wireless Innovation and Investment Notice of Inquiry, the FCC seeks comment on spectrum availability and use, wireless networks, devices, applications and business practices. The notice of inquiry also wants feedback on how consumers have used wireless services and technology to solve real-world problems in healthcare, energy, education and public safety. But expect tough love.

"This is a crucial time to fully understand the state of competition in wireless," FCC Commissioner Michael J. Copps told attendees yesterday during an open meeting in Washington.

"It's no secret to most folks in this room that I have been more than a tad critical of the extensive consolidation that has occurred in wireless," he said. "While I again applaud the technology and service strides the wireless industry has made, I remain unconvinced that the road we traveled was ideal."

The inquiry is meant to lead to a framework for analyzing wireless innovation and investment, including the pertinent metrics or data sources that should be considered.

The FCC framework will be combined with the record developed in response to the Mobile Competition Report Notice of Inquiry adopted yesterday to inform FCC consideration of future wireless regulatory issues.

Responding to the FCC inquiry, CTIA - The Wireless Association defended the wireless industry in a statement attributed to Steve Largent, its president/CEO.

"Whether it be the almost 100,000 applications that are now available to consumers since the opening of the first applications store 14 months ago, or the launch in the United States of the newest smartphones, or the ability of more consumers in the U.S than anywhere else on the planet to access the highest speed wireless networks, or the lowest price per minute of the 26 countries tracked by Merrill Lynch, or the highest minutes of use of those same 26 countries, or the fact that we have the least concentrated wireless market on the planet, or the evolution in the way services are sold -- we are excited to tell the industry's story," Mr. Largent said from Washington.

The FCC documents are listed as action by the Commission August 27, 2009, by Notice of Inquiry (FCC 09-66). Chairman Genachowski, Commissioners Copps, McDowell, Clyburn and Baker with Chairman Genachowski, Commissioners Copps, McDowell, Clyburn and Baker issuing separate statements. GN Docket No. 09-157.

Here in their entirety are the respective statements by FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski and his fellow commissioners. The CTIA statement follows.

STATEMENT OF CHAIRMAN JULIUS GENACHOWSKI

Re: Fostering Innovation and Investment in the Wireless Communications Market, GN Docket No. 09-157; A National Broadband Plan For Our Future, GN Docket No. 09-51

Maximizing and accelerating innovation and investment, along with ensuring competition and empowering consumers, are core components of the FCC's mission. The first inquiry we initiate today focuses on innovation and investment in wireless communications. Specifically, we seek to identify appropriate and concrete steps the Commission can take to support and encourage further innovation and investment in this area, and to understand better the factors that encourage innovation and investment in wireless.

With respect to mobile, it is hard to think of a sector of the communications marketplace that better illustrates the potential of innovation coupled with investment. Over the past decade and a half, cell phones have gone from something accessible to a relatively small segment of the population -- just 33.8 million users in 1995 -- to an indispensable device carried by over 270 million Americans today.

With the advent of extraordinary and innovative new devices like the iPhone, Pre, and BlackBerry, we are on the verge of a second transformation: from mobile voice to mobile broadband, from handheld devices that can do just one thing to smart mobile mini-computers that can do almost anything at all. The remarkable devices we see today, and the consumer enthusiasm surrounding them, are just a start -- recent projections indicate that smartphones may outsell personal computers by 2011. It is essential that the U.S. become the leader in this new wireless marketplace.

Of course, no one can really predict with confidence exactly how the revolution in mobile broadband will ultimately affect our society and our economy. But it doesn't take a crystal ball to see that the effects are going to be deep and far-reaching. Mobile broadband will create and support many of the great companies, technologies, and applications of tomorrow. It will play an essential role in supporting the long-term health of our economy and creating new jobs for American workers. It will enable all of us to be more productive and more connected everywhere we go. And, I believe, it will have positive consequences for our nation's ability to solve pressing problems like health care, energy, education, and public safety.

The FCC, as the agency entrusted with managing the public airwaves, will play critical role in this process. The FCC's decisions on how spectrum is allocated, assigned, and licensed (or unlicensed); on how interference is defined, disputes are adjudicated, band-sharing is administered; on how equipment is authorized and experimental licenses are granted or denied; and on a whole host of other questions discussed in today's Notice, will have a profound impact on how the wireless marketplace develops.

The Commission's history in this area holds great examples of success, such as the PCS auctions, the creation of the unlicensed regime that enabled Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, and other powerful innovations. But there are also examples of failures -- band plans and services that failed to attract users, lay fallow or near-fallow for years, and needed to be reconsidered after much wasted effort and time.

In short, at times the Commission has gotten it right, and at times it has gotten it wrong. The purpose of initiating today's inquiry is to make sure that we get it right as we move into the brave new world of wireless broadband.

It is important as well to note that the nature of innovation is not constant "indeed it has changed significantly in recent time. Our digital era allows for greater collaboration, rapid iteration, and faster times to market. These trends have affected innovation at large companies, some of which are responsible for truly impressive recent innovations. And these trends have also created a new generation of innovators, working with new tools, on new platforms, and having an extraordinary impact on our economy and society. This is great news for the communications marketplace and for communications consumers. It is essential that the Commission come to grips with this new world, take seriously the new opportunities and the new challenges, and be relentless about developing policies that maximize and accelerate innovation and investment.

STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONER MICHAEL J. COPPS

Re: In the Matter of Fostering Innovation and Investment in the Wireless Communications Market (GN Docket No. 09-157); A National Broadband Plan For Our Future (GN Docket No. 09-51)

In the Matter of Implementation of Section 6002(b) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993; Annual Report and Analysis of Competitive Market Conditions With Respect to Mobile Wireless including Commercial Mobile Services (WT Docket No. 09-66)

Consumer Information and Disclosure (CG Docket No. 09-158); Truth-in-Billing and Billing Format (CC Docket No. 98-170); IP-Enabled Services (WC Docket No. 04-36)

Today we launch three important Notices of Inquiry -- each going to the heart of the Commission's core function: protecting and empowering American consumers. This is a most propitious beginning for the first meeting of our fully reconstituted FCC. These items are welcome news. I want to thank Chairman Genachowski for his vision and leadership in bringing these items forward at the outset of his tenure. It shows a commitment that bodes well for the months and years ahead.

The Notices that we are adopting today lay the groundwork for sound public policy-making. They seek to protect consumers in three ways -- by searching out new ways for the Commission to facilitate wireless innovation and investment; by improving our ability to promote wireless competition; and by ensuring that consumers of wireless and other services have the information they need to make intelligent choices.

We begin with innovation. More even than the dramatic technology advances of the Twentieth century, the Twenty-first will be about stunning and transformative innovations in technology. Wireless innovations have already empowered consumers in ways unimagined just a few short years ago. Those first seemingly magical devices that carried our voices hither and yon -- when everything was working well -- are now evolving into robust mobile computers. The wireless industry deserves recognition and credit for how much it has accomplished. But mark me down as one who believes we have only glimpsed the beginning. Much more is coming. How much more depends in significant measure on our country's success in encouraging wireless innovation. There should be no doubt that facilitating further innovations in wireless technologies and services is absolutely crucial to our nation's prosperity and well-being in the Digital Age. We look to industry for much of that. But visionary public policy should always be the handmaiden of private enterprise. That's how we grew this country. Now, once again, we must learn to harness all our national resources for innovation and growth.

One of the great and costly shortfalls of the last decade was a declining national commitment to basic technology research and development. The tsunami of industry consolidation America endured in recent years short-changed research and development because R&D supposedly didn't nourish the quarterly bottom-line in ways sufficiently appealing to speculators-on-the-make. At the same time, government was for the most part exiting its role as an incubator of research and development. These simultaneous private and public cut-backs constituted a double whammy that cost us -- consumers, citizens and country -- dearly. The National Research Council reported, a couple of years ago, that without enhanced focus on technology research and development the U.S. role as a global leader in technology innovation can only continue to decline. The report showed how industry and government-funded research have decreased considerably over the past several decades. We need to understand these things. We need to act upon them.

With today's Notice on fostering innovation in the wireless communications market, we begin to act. We launch an inquiry to understand how the Commission can better promote innovation and investment in new technologies and services. We ask wide-ranging questions. We seek to better understand where and how key innovations are occurring across the extensive "value chain" of the wireless market. What has gone wrong? Where are the shortfalls? What are other countries doing to promote innovation? We also inquire about ways to improve spectrum management practices to make more spectrum available for innovative services. For example, do technology innovations create new opportunities for accessing or sharing spectrum? What are they? How can we revise our rules to enable greater access for those with new products and services that Americans want? How can we do a better job as an agency addressing interference protection concerns and the conflicting claims of contending parties so that rulemakings do not continue to languish? What rule changes do we need to make as wireless network infrastructure and technologies bring us a flood of new possibilities and new applications? Improving the Commission's analysis and understanding of these matters will substantially enhance our ability to take the actions needed to promote wireless innovation and investment.

I am also pleased that a number of questions in this Notice focus on innovations in wireless devices and applications. The increasing sophistication and complexity of new devices and applications have opened new worlds to millions of consumers. How exactly does the "openness" of wireless networks and devices affect the pace of innovation? Aren't open platforms and open access the kinds of models that best promote innovation? What can we learn from the Internet model, where openness has provided consumers a fantastic world of choice in applications and services? The freedom to choose devices and applications is, I believe, good for consumers and good for entrepreneurs, too.

Wireless technologies and services are not just ends in themselves. These are things that will be called on to help solve many of the critical challenges facing our country -- improvements in health care through telemedicine and patient monitoring devices; energy conservation through "smart grids;" education by bringing classrooms to eager learners wherever they may be; and public safety by enhancing the capabilities of our first responders, just to name a few. As we enable wireless technologies and services, we enable America to meet and master these many challenges. I would also say how pleased I am that we will have the opportunity to consider the comments we receive in this Notice as we develop our Congressionally-mandated National Broadband Plan, wherein promoting innovation will be critical to the achievement of our goals. Of course we already have records on some of these issues so that action does not have to wait until next year.

Today we also pave the way for improving the agency's annual CMRS Competition Report to Congress by expanding the scope of the report. For years I have advocated the benefits of a more granular, data-driven understanding of the current mobile wireless marketplace. While we have made some limited progress in this regard in recent years, we have a long way to go. In particular, I have remained concerned that the Commission has not yet developed a clearer, more analytically sound standard for evaluating the state of competition that these annual reports are supposed to address.

This is a crucial time to fully understand the state of competition in wireless. It's no secret to most folks in this room that I have been more than a tad critical of the extensive consolidation that has occurred in wireless. While I again applaud the technology and service strides the wireless industry has made, I remain unconvinced that the road we traveled was ideal. The Commission has a statutory duty to prevent undue concentration in the wireless marketplace. We opened the floodgates to consolidation with the repeal of spectrum caps and, more recently, the Commission has been playing unhelpful games with altering spectrum aggregation screens without first completing the necessary analysis on how the use of different frequency bands may affect competition. The time is now, with a new Commission and with a National Broadband Plan in the making, to decide what path to take in order to ensure a more competitive wireless marketplace.

Today's Notice signals that the Commission is, at last, moving beyond too heavy a focus on what it has classified as "commercial mobile radio service" so that, going forward, we can cover more completely the broader mobile wireless marketplace. The nature of mobile wireless services has evolved significantly in recent years, transitioning from a reliance chiefly on mobile voice services to the increasing use and reliance on mobile broadband services in a variety of forms that connect Americans in myriad new ways. We need to better understand the various segments that comprise the mobile wireless ecosystem. So in this inquiry we seek to identify the retail service and consumer market segments that we should examine -- which could include analysis of the market by type of service (such as mobile voice, text, or data), type of device (such as handsets or modem cards), type of subscription (such as prepaid or postpaid), or type of subscriber using the service (such as individual consumers, small businesses, or enterprises). We seek additional data about "upstream" markets (such as spectrum, towers, and backhaul) and "downstream" or "edge" markets (such as applications and content) that may affect mobile wireless competition. And we seek more data regarding the range of choices that consumers have that affect their purchasing decisions. These are the right questions.

Finally, we will consider today a Notice addressing consumer information and disclosure. It inquires how the Commission can better protect consumers by ensuring that they have the information they need when purchasing their communications services. We have not done much of a job on this important element of consumer protection in recent years. Consumers cannot be expected to make informed choices without information that truly informs. I have spoken in the past about, for example, better cell phone mapping being available to consumers when they go in to sign up with a carrier. The situation is arguably better now than it was, but it could have been better sooner and there is still room for improvement. Wireless bills remain a monthly agony for consumers. Ask my wife who pays our bills about how much she looks forward to that envelope arriving in the mail each month!

Consumer protection must always be front-and-center as we discharge our public interest obligations, and in a market that I think is less than maximally competitive, that's not just good public policy -- it is essential public policy. If information is power, consumers too often lack power. So as the Digital Revolution transforms our lives, let's make sure that consumers have the information they need to select and maintain the products and services that serve them best.

I am also very pleased that this Notice asks whether the Commission's truth-in-billing rules -- which currently apply only to wireline and wireless voice services and then, as I've remarked, not always adequately -- should be extended to broadband Internet access service and subscription video services. The Digital Age is a time of communications convergence wherein voice, video and broadband services are more and more intertwined. Double, triple and quadruple play services are now offered by single or partnered service providers. I am pleased that, finally, with this item, the Commission begins to examine what information should be readily available to consumers who seek to protect and empower themselves when selecting, maintaining or switching these new services.

In sum, these Notices are good news. By issuing them, we endeavor to become the more pro-consumer agency that we were originally conceived to be -- and must yet become. But let there be no doubt that these Notices represent only the beginning of the process. NOIs begin proceedings; NPRMs breathe direction into them; Commission Orders bring the change. I hope, and I believe, that this Commission will act with a sense of urgency in getting from NOIs to final Orders. That's fundamental to doing our job for the American people.

Again, I appreciate the leadership of the Chairman and the input of all my colleagues, two of whom didn't have exactly an abundance of time to consider these items. And I thank the staff from all the different bureaus and offices that has collaborated in the preparation of these proceedings. A job well done!

STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONER ROBERT M. McDOWELL

Re: Fostering Innovation and Investment in the Wireless Communications Market, GN Docket No. 09-157; A National Broadband Plan For Our Future, GN Docket No. 09-51

I congratulate Ruth Milkman and the Wireless Bureau team, as well as Julie Knapp and the fine folks in the Office of Engineering & Technology, for their work on this thoughtful, comprehensive notice. As our inquiry acknowledges, the Commission's policies in the wireless sector have helped encourage and enable the innovation that defines today's wireless marketplace. Likewise, policies that foster continued innovation have spurred capital investment in wireless and brought advanced services to American consumers.

Furthermore, according to the Thirteenth Wireless Competition Report, released by our Wireless Telecommunications Bureau in January, 2009, more than 95 percent of the U.S. population is able to choose among at least three mobile service providers, and more than 60 percent is able to choose among at least five competing providers. At the same time, more competition is coming over the horizon with the build out of the AWS-1, 700 MHz, white spaces, and more. Prices have been decreasing, while functionality, innovation and choice have been increasing. As a result, wireless technology has penetrated broadly and quickly across America.

Even at present, in the midst of the worst economy in decades -- an economy that seems only to shrink -- the communications sector, which includes wireless technologies and services, intends to plow as much as $80 billion this year alone into capital expenditures that are making broadband services faster, more available, and more affordable. Few, if any, sectors can make such a claim. In short, the phenomenal success of the wireless sector shows how well a light regulatory touch works.

While today we unanimously support the Commission seeking to develop a framework for analyzing wireless innovation, and the relationship between innovation and investment, where we go from here is not yet clear. But where we have been is clear: The Commission's longstanding policy to allow competitive market forces, rather than command-and-control regulations, to foster the development of and investment in wireless networks and services has led to remarkable advances. Thus, I hope that we will proceed with care; mindful that any future action we consider should aim to attract more private investment capital, rather than deter it.

Finally, I want to note my preference for a more pragmatic comment period. Thirty days from the release date of the inquiry -- presumably thirty days from today -- in my view, does not provide parties with adequate time to collect, organize, and submit insightful information. While I appreciate the idea of including the comments filed in this proceeding in the docket associated with the National Broadband Plan, I am concerned that we may shortchange both inquiries by not allowing adequate time for meaningful input on the challenging legal and economic questions raised here.

Again, I thank the Chairman for his leadership and staff for its work. I look forward to working with you, and all interested parties, to learn more about innovation and investment in the wireless marketplace.

STATEMENT OF COMMISSIONER MIGNON L. CLYBURN

Re: Fostering Innovation and Investment in the Wireless Communications Market, GN Docket No. 09-157; A National Broadband Plan For Our Future, GN Docket No. 09-51

It is very exciting to embark on this quest to expand and inform our understanding of key innovations in the wireless market. At the outset, I want to thank Chairman Genachowski for his leadership in initiating this Notice of Inquiry which is intended to build on already successful policies in this critical sector.
The wireless marketplace continues to evolve. The past decades of technological advancements and innovations in software, content and handsets are remarkable, capturing the attention of consumers across all demographics. The inquiry we start today is designed to canvass specific areas of wireless innovation, understand any regulatory encumbrances, and elicit new information on how to best promote and enable wireless innovations. I think our efforts here, combined with today's inquiry into competitive conditions in the mobile wireless market, are important steps in the right direction. The extent to which our inquiry will lead to greater competition and innovation in the wireless market can only inure to the benefit of the American consumer.

I am particularly pleased that this item seeks comment on the best methods for repurposing spectrum and the cost factors associated with such reallocations. The questions we raise regarding access models and mechanisms are equally important. As this Notice correctly recognizes, spectrum availability for new services and applications is an ongoing challenge and a handicap on wireless innovation. I greatly look forward to hearing from all of you on ways we can spur the innovative and intensive use of spectrum.

Finally, I am well aware of the protracted interference disputes that can arise when new services and devices are sought to be introduced into a particular shared or adjacent spectrum band. So I'm pleased that this item raises questions regarding alternative approaches to managing spectrum interference. I'm eager to hear back from the public on this and all of the other important questions raised in this Notice.
I thank the staff of both the Wireless Bureau and the Office of Engineering and Technology for your hard work on this item which I'm pleased to support.

STATEMENT OFCOMMISSIONER MEREDITH A. BAKER

Re: Fostering Innovation and Investment in the Wireless Communications Market, GN Docket No. 09-157; A National Broadband Plan For Our Future, GN Docket No. 09-51

Today, in this Notice of Inquiry, we commence a proceeding which will allow the Commission to obtain comprehensive information about innovation in the wireless industry. I am encouraged to see the Commission undertake a thorough review of its policies and procedures to ensure that we do all we can to continue to foster and encourage competition, innovation, and investment in the wireless sector. I am very pleased that this will be the first vote that I will cast here at the Commission.

I am also pleased that today's Notice poses important questions about the critical role spectrum management plays in wireless innovation. Specifically, we hope to acquire a comprehensive understanding of developments that will promote greater access to and more efficient uses of spectrum.

At the outset, I want to note that this Notice will likely produce many recommendations for Commission action. We must be wary, however, of implementing policies that could benchmark innovation and unintentionally hinder possible new entrants, technologies, and business models. Rather, any future action that arises as a result of this Notice should ensure that capital investment will not be deterred and that innovation continues to flourish to the benefit of the American consumer. Over the past ten years, the nation's wireless industry has witnessed unparalleled innovation and growth. In fact, the wireless industry has grown at well over 16 percent per year outpacing the remainder of the economy which has grown at a rate of a little more than 3 percent per year,[1] and, over the past seven years, wireless providers have invested $22.8 billion per year, on average, to upgrade networks to provide broadband services.[2] We stand on the verge of the next generation of wireless broadband products and the government should proceed with great caution so as to ensure the best outcome for consumers.

I thank the Chairman for taking into account my concerns regarding the Commission's statutory authority to regulate some of these areas.

While more detailed information is helpful, I would like to raise the issue of the potential burden on interested parties. We are releasing this Notice concurrently with our important inquiry on mobile wireless competition, and I question whether stakeholders will have the ability to submit substantive responses in both proceedings. While we do not know what this inquiry will yield, in determining our next steps, we should be mindful of our past successes and continue to refrain from imposing unnecessary and burdensome regulatory obligations on industry.

Finally, I want to thank the staffs of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology for this thorough and comprehensive item. I look forward to contributing my views and engaging in this debate with staff, interested parties, the Chairman, and my fellow Commissioners. Ongoing wireless market innovations -- whether handset functionality, 4G technologies, smart antennas, or software defined radios, to name a few -- are the key behind greater productivity and improved gateways to information that enhance the lives of American consumers and our economy. I hope this Notice will help inform what we at the FCC can do to ensure that America continues to be a world leader in the next generation of wireless innovation.

CTIA - The Wireless Association president/CEO Steve Largent's statement responding to the Federal Communications Commission's Open Commission Meeting

CTIA and the wireless industry appreciate the opportunity to respond to the Notices of Inquiry and to provide the Chairman and Commissioners, as well as other policy-makers, with information on the status of the evolving wireless ecosystem. Whether it be the almost 100,000 applications that are now available to consumers since the opening of the first applications store 14 months ago, or the launch in the United States of the newest smart phones, or the ability of more consumers in the U.S than anywhere else on the planet to access the highest speed wireless networks, or the lowest price per minute of the 26 countries tracked by Merrill Lynch, or the highest minutes of use of those same 26 countries, or the fact that we have the least concentrated wireless market on the planet, or the evolution in the way services are sold -- we are excited to tell the industry's story. The wireless ecosystem -- from carriers, to handset manufacturers, to network providers, to operating system providers, to application developers -- is evolving before our eyes and this is not the same market that it was even three years ago. In this industry, innovation is everywhere.