On April 15, the New America Foundation and the Consumers Union co-sponsored an event debating how best to promote consumer welfare and competition in wireless broadband markets. At During the panel discussion, Consumers Union released a nationwide poll that explored consumer preferences with respect to device roaming and interoperability. The survey result was unveiled that nearly 75% of U.S. consumers who own a cell phone support a government rule which requires cell phone handsets to be compatible across all U.S. cellular services. As stated by the Policy counsel for Consumers Union, Parul P. Desai, “consumers should have the right to make choice of cell phone and carrier”. The government rule should be passed to ensure that the benefits of interoperability are made available to consumers rather than prolonging the current trend of locking handsets to specific providers. In order to spur competition and innovation in the rapidly expanding market for mobile broadband service, the Federal Communications Commission should adopt rules for new entrants or smaller carriers to get obtain data roaming agreements at reasonable rates, mandate 4G device interoperability in the 700 MHz band, and restrict exclusive handset deals by the dominant carriers.

The panel was moderated by Rob Pegoraro of the Washington Post and was comprised of representatives from AT&T, Sprint Nextel, Rural Cellular Association, and Phoenix Center for Advanced Legal & Economic Public Policy Studies.

This event is co-sponsored by the New America Foundation and the Consumers Union.