FCC mobile competition report once again dodges its key question

[Commentary] Another year, another report from the Federal Communications Commission on the state of competition in the US mobile industry, and as has been the case since 2009, the FCC didn’t actually reach any conclusion on whether that industry is competitive.

Instead the FCC just presented the facts it gathered over 2013 and the first half of 2014: More consolidation has eliminated big regional operators like MetroPCS and Leap Wireless as independent providers and put more subscribers and revenue into the hands of the Big Four (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint), which accounted for 96 percent of the US market. The FCC claimed that it can’t draw any single conclusion about whether the overall wireless market is competitive or uncompetitive since there are so many other factors that go into such judgment beyond those it analyzes in its reports. That may be true, but it also means the report can mean anything anyone wants it to be.