Sen. Tom Udall’s (D-N.M.) proposed legislation to force wireless operators to tell customers when they are nearing their allotment of minutes, data and text usage leaves me with a lot of questions. Would the legislation hurt smaller operators more than their larger competitors? Should the Federal Communications Commission mandate a service that could prove to be a competitive advantage? In the outrageous overage charges the senator cites in his press release, did the carrier in question waive those overage charges or was some type of agreement reached with the operator?
Mind you, I wouldn’t mind alerts on a number of bills that come into my household, in particular a credit card that my husband and I share. (Alert: “Tracy, do you realize hubby just racked up $600 at boat store?” I could use that.) It certainly would be helpful to people with limited data usage plans since no one has found a great way to explain data charges. Nevertheless, I can look at my phone bill (and my credit card bill for that matter) online to see who is spending what. Apple Inc.’s (AAPL) iTunes store thanks me regularly for my purchases. I think these services are better offered as part of a customer relationship between the operator and the end user, much like credit-card companies call when they suspect suspicious activity on an account.
Regardless, I don’t think the legislation would have much of an impact on the nation’s three largest carriers – certainly their CRM solutions are sophisticated enough to add an alert without too much expense or effort. But I do worry that the nation’s smaller operators might have a more difficult time complying. Rural operators already are at a disadvantage because they don’t have the marketing prowess or device selection of the nationwide operators. Now is not the time to put another mandate upon them – or exempt them from a mandate that also leaves them at a competitive disadvantage.
The European Union has implemented such a measure, but the EU implements a lot of rules that frankly make all operators seem the same. In the United States, where AT&T Mobility (T) and Verizon Wireless (VZ) begin to look the same, we need more differentiation to keep the market competitive, not more mandates.
