Handset Exclusives Criticized as Hurting Cellular Market

摘要

Exclusivity agreements can hurt competition by small wireless providers, and because of nthe deals four major wireless carriers don't operate as a "fully competitive marketplace," Seth nBloom, the Senate Antitrust Subcommittee's counsel, said at a Broadband Breakfast nevent. Exclusivity contracts “diminish the spread of broadband in rural areas,” because nsmall carriers like Cellular One that serve rural areas can’t compete with the big providers who noffer the "latest and greatest" devices through the contracts, creating a “vicious circle,” said nJulia Tanner, general counsel of cellular operator MTPCS. Consumers "don't win" under the ncontracts because they may not have access to the phones they want, said Parul Desai, nConsumers Union's communications policy counsel. But Coleman Brazelon, Brattle Group nprincipal, said AT&T's iPhone exclusive produced “far more options” in the handset market, nand if “Apple took a different path today, we’d all have iPhones.”