Deregulating Massachusetts Wireless Necessary for Innovation, Economic Growth, Say Service Providers

Verizon’s policies in the state give consumers the opportunity to choose their service each day in the marketplace, Joe Zukowski, vice president-government affairs, told us. “Consumers have been able to choose among providers for a long time, and now competitors in Massachusetts have more wired connections than Verizon,” he said. Monopoly regulations are not necessary when there is competition, said Zukowski. “The Legislature gave the regulators its job decades ago in this regulation, and now is the time to update that job description in a new market,” he said. As of June 2012, competitor providers, non-ILECs, had 55 percent of all voice markets in the state, second only to New Hampshire in terms of competition, according to FCC data, said Zukowski.

Regulatory rules need to be updated to reflect how consumers use technology in the market today, said Paul Vasington, Verizon director-state public policy, at a Massachusetts Joint Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy Committee hearing Oct. 8. “The Legislature defined the role of state regulators when there was a monopoly, and it is the appropriate place to redefine the role now that full competition has been achieved,” said Vasington. More than 95.1 percent of Massachusetts residents have access to at least four providers, and 98.9 percent of residents have access to at least three providers, said Zukowski in a letter to the committee which he said was based on FCC data. “Massachusetts regulators in 1993 correctly decided not to apply any state regulation to wireless services, relying on markets and customer choice to deliver consumer benefits,” said Zukowski. “It is well past time to ensure that this long-standing state of affairs is stabilized by statute."

Deregulating wireless is necessary for companies to grow and invest in the state, an AT&T spokeswoman told us. “We recognize that there are a lot of choices in the state, and with regulations and consumer protections, we think that consumers can find the best service,” she said. AT&T worked with other organizations such as the Massachusetts Business Roundtable to promote interest for this bill, she said. “We are not the only ones who have realized the changes in wireless over the past two decades,” said the company spokeswoman.

For instance, the digital game industry relies heavily on mobile wireless communications to deliver its products, and MassDiGi testified at the hearing on Oct. 8 to provide an “innovation perspective,” Timothy Loew, the company’s executive director, said. “In order to continue the pace of innovation in our industry, the pace of innovation in the wireless industry needs to continue at the pace that it has been progressing,” he said. Digital games rely heavily on service providers to function on iOS, Android and tablet platforms, said Loew. “Interruptions and impediments to service can cause ripple effects on the progress of innovation,” he said.

The entire communications industry has seen .03 percent of complaints from the ten million voice connections in the state, Zukowski said. “There’s an extremely low number of consumer complaints in a competitive market, which shows the success of more than a decade of policy driving toward the competitive,” he said. Existing FCC and FTC consumer protections will still apply in addition general state consumer protections to “create a comprehensive web of protections covering the most important consumer issues such as cramming, slamming collections and account information,” Zukowski wrote in his letter to the committee.