@jbtaylor on tech

Kent German, the CNET columnist, always has strongly expressed opinions. This week's column is no exception. Although his rhetoric is unusually charged, I think most consumers share his view that it's time for AT&T to stop whining, which is exactly what AT&T's CEO Randall Stephenson did on AT&T's Q4 earnings call this week.

The company's earnings were hit by the T-Mobile break fee and Stephenson rivaled Jim Cicconi, AT&T's top lobbyist, in his efforts to play the victim card. Stephenson essentially complained that the FCC is out to get his company and everyone else in the industry, refusing to approve mergers and spectrum transactions.

None of that is backed up by facts though.

As FCC officials pointed out in response to media inquiries, the FCC has approved more than 150 commercial mobile transaction applications last year alone and more than 300 in the last two years, including AT&T's nearly $2 billion acquisition of Qualcomm's spectrum.

(I would point out, the FCC refused to apply any of the conditions that competitors and consumer groups had sought for the Qualcomm deal -- AT&T got everything it wanted with the deal. This was the 15th major AT&T deal that the FCC has approved over the last 15 years.)

This whining and cherry picking of facts by AT&T wasn't limited to Stephenson this week. As I pointed out earlier, AT&T's top FCC lobbyist, repeatedly and falsely charged Sprint with "disinvesting" (sic) in its network in Oklahoma and Kansas -- the charges were made in blog posts where the lobbyist whined and complained about the FCC's decision to ensure that data roaming rates are affordable for all consumers.

Mind you, this was an FCC decision supported by every major consumer group and everyone in the wireless industry except for AT&T and Verizon, but AT&T's lobbying team, chose to single out Sprint as some sort of bad actor.

It's laughable in the minds of observers, of course. Many see it as payback for Sprint's role in opposing the T-Mobile takeover in 2011.

While that's an easy conclusion to draw, it's too simple for me. I have a different view.

I don't think AT&T really has beef with Sprint. Or for that matter, with the FCC. (Sprint and the FCC are mere strawmen.)

No, AT&T's problem is with consumers. When faced with the choice with doing the right thing for its customers or squeezing more money out of consumers wallets, they almost always make the choice which screws consumers.

That's what the proposed takeover of T-Mobile was all about. That's what the Qualcomm transaction was about. That's what the data roaming fight was about. That's what the special access fight is about. I could go on, but you get the point.

And frankly, for far too long, too many of the wireless carriers have followed that path. There's a reason why so many consumers have a love/hate relationship with their wireless carrier.

Fortunately, because of competition, companies like Sprint and T-Mobile and U.S. Cellular and C-Spire and Cricket and Metro PCS are putting pricing pressure on the Twin Bells. This is how competition benefits consumers.

But given the vast resources of the Twin Bells -- be it spectrum, scale, lobbying muscle, manufacturer relationships, advertising spend, you name it -- it's becoming increasingly difficult for other carriers to bring that kind of competitive pressure to the wireless industry.

Sprint's CEO Dan Hesse summed up my personal views best in a conversation with GigaOM's Kevin Fitchard late last year:

"When AT&T announced its intention to take over T-Mobile USA," Hesse said, "It made me realize the industry has been gradually moving toward being a duopoly and how tenuous the competitive situation is in the U.S. wireless industry. . . . [Before the merger was announced] I could see this gradual creep in size and market dominance of the big two — growing gradually each year, though not to the extent that it became alarming. But the attempted acquisition of T-Mobile set off all sorts of alarms and had you step back and notice what’s been happening each year for a number of years."

There was a time in Washington, D.C., where I'd look for groups like Public Knowledge, Free Press, CCIA, RCA, RTG, COMPTEL, MAP and others to lead the charge in fighting for competition. No doubt, these groups have long stood up for consumers and competition in telecom public policy fights. And they will continue to do so on behalf of all consumers.

But given the consumer outrage over the proposed T-Mobile takeover, the consumer petitions which forced Verizon and Bank of America to back off of new fees, and the unbelievable citizen action to stop SOPA and PIPA, I agree with my friend and colleague Maura Corbett, I think our politics has fundamentally changed.

The interest groups in D.C. still play an important role, but the real power is in the hands of consumers themselves. And that power is far greater than any trade association or public interest group will ever wield.

Businesses, large and small, should not ignore this development. Neither should the politicians.

It's my belief that the smart ones won't.

----

Of course, it bears repeating that this is my personal blog and these are my personal views, not those of my employer. For more of a discussion of that, visit my blog's home page.

This afternoon, Bob Quinn, AT&T's top lobbyist before the FCC, wrote a blog post which not only criticized a pro-consumer decision from the FCC, but also mischaracterized Sprint's network investments.

In response, Sprint issued the following statement to media:

"It’s disappointing, but not surprising, that AT&T wants to challenge a consumer’s right to access email, the Internet and other mobile broadband services wherever they may travel in the U.S. Along with Verizon Wireless, AT&T is the only other wireless carrier in America which opposes the FCC’s pro-consumer data roaming decision from last year.

"The facts are that Sprint, as part of its Network Vision program, doubled its 2011 capital investment over 2010 to make tens of thousands of capacity upgrades, resulting in a better wireless experience for its customers. With these network investments, Sprint continues to offer consumers a better value than AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile.”

p.s. I suppose AT&T and Verizon are opposed to buffaloes roaming, too. ;-)

While everyone agrees that piracy of intellectual property is a serious problem which must be addressed, it's clear, in my personal view, that SOPA and PIPA were not the right way to fix the problem.

This week, the Congress -- both Republicans and Democrats -- ran away from this horrible legislation virtually overnight after individual citizens asked them to do exactly that.

Check out the graphic above which shows 80 supporters and 31 opponents on Jan. 18 and then one day after citizens spoke out, 65 supporters and 101 opponents.

And one day after that, both the House and Senate leadership essentially sent the bills authors back to the drawing boards. This happened of course, not because of the lobbyists and PAC money... if that was going to decide it, the legislation would have passed. These bills were killed because of real people calling their Congressional representatives.

We need more of that in Washington, in my view.