The wireless industry, having been defeated on Capitol Hill and Bunker Hill by environmentalists, organized labor and soccer moms, has turned to John Q. Public, Marcus Welby, M.D. and Ivan to makes its case. And what a wonderful strategy shift it is. Better late than never.
For too long, the wireless industry has wasted time trying to advance policy with a worn, one-dimensional approach consisting of costly courtesy calls to Congress and the FCC on legislative and regulatory issues ranging from antenna siting to universal service.
Finally, the wireless industry is reaching outside the Beltway to sell wireless technology as a revolutionary public safety tool and a new choice for consumers in the $100 billion local telephone monopoly market.
Traditional lobbying is still of value, but its usefulness is diminishing. This should be clear to the wireless industry by now. Efforts to pre-empt local regulation of antenna siting failed miserably. And a Tauzin-McCain work-in-progress on E911/federal antenna siting, while lofty in purpose and vision, translates into legislation of doubt.
Being the wireless industry in and of itself is simply not good enough for getting regulatory or legislative relief in a post-telecom act era where wireless voices are drowned out by the loud crossfire between Baby Bells and long-distance giants.
Take the wireless message to the people. Congress is incented by voters. The FCC is incented by Congress. The wireless industry has begun to think outside the box, or the cell, so to speak.
Enter John Q. Public. CTIA and its creative handlers have a marvelous TV spot touting public safety benefits of mobile phones that blossom in society when in the hands of ordinary people.
Enter Marcus Welby, M.D. It’s no secret the ComCARE Alliance is a creation of CTIA and its outside lobbying arm, National Strategies Inc. In Hardwick, Vt., and in Congress last week, nurses and others affiliated with health care, public safety and law enforcement put a human face on a technology that can carry life-saving information within the `golden hour.’ This helps the debate.
Enter Ivan. PCIA last week unveiled wireless Ivan, a parody of an MCI ad lamenting the lack of freedom to choose from more than one local phone service provider. Ivan was in the Gulag for too long. He hadn’t realized until now telecom competition does exist, thanks to the wireless industry.
PCIA’s ad blitz is designed to buttress its Agenda for a Wireless America campaign, which is designed to pursue regulatory and legislative remedies that make wireless not only competitive with itself but also with the local Baby Bells and GTE.
With Ivan’s search for freedom over, maybe now the wireless industry can liberate itself and take a new wireless message to that big marketplace called America.
