Verizon to the Cable Industry: Let’s Be Friends

[Commentary] When it comes to high-speed wired data distribution -- America’s critical information infrastructure -- Comcast and the other cable incumbents have won the battle for subscribers and face neither oversight nor competition. Although the deregulation of the communications sector over the last few years was premised on the notion that competition among platforms -- wired, wireless and satellite -- would protect consumers and businesses from price surges, the laws of physics have gotten in the way: Lower-capacity (but mobile) wireless services are complementary to the high-capacity (but stationary) wires Comcast sells. Very few Americans are substituting wireless access for a wire when it comes to data, and no one would start a business relying on a wireless connection.

On the wireless side, the powerhouses are Verizon and AT&T Inc., which collectively accounted for 65 percent of all wireless subscribers and 71 percent of all net new subscribers in 2011; of the two, Verizon is larger. When it comes to the crucial issue of spectrum licenses, Verizon Wireless already holds approximately 43 percent of all 700 MHz spectrum in the nation (nicknamed “beachfront” spectrum for its favorable propagation characteristics) and 48 percent of cellular spectrum. These are the two most suitable (and valuable) bands for mobile data transmission services.