Who Really Owns Your Phone?

[Commentary] This week the Senate Commerce Committee is looking at the wireless marketplace from the consumer's perspective. There are now 270 million cell phone subscribers in America, and 18 percent of households rely solely on wireless phones to communicate. That number's growing, and it doesn't take a big leap to understand that the future of telephony in this country is traveling through the airwaves, not buried in the ground. We need to be focused on ensuring that the wireless marketplace remains competitive, and that consumers have access to innovative technologies whether they live in a densely populated city or a sparsely populated small town. Here's the issue I think we need to wrestle with: wireless service providers are largely deciding what phone you can use. We don't see that happening in similar markets. Your broadband provider doesn't decide what kind of computer you can connect to at the end of your DSL or cable wire. And forty years ago, the FCC ruled in the historic Carterfone decision that AT&T couldn't pick and choose which phones can and can't connect to its network. Is the status quo the right model for maximizing innovation, competition and consumer choice? Or do we need a change?