Dear Editor,
I am sorry you do not see the value of a healthy reseller industry as a benefit to society. Resellers are the only currently operating entity to provide price competition to the duopoly carriers. PCS providers, with their heavy license and build-out costs, will not be in a position to provide long-term rate pressure to the RBOCs and AT&T.
The lower costs I experience enable me to compete on rates. I do not have to offer consumers “free” phones with 2- or 3-year terms and outlandish termination clauses.
The Carriers addition to the Barton amendment is not acceptable because a reseller, by definition, must be able to move his customer base to ANY provider that offers better or cheaper services. Resellers’ customers depend on him to be the most educated and efficient consumer of all. This will not lead to the monopoly you suggest. Rather, as new providers of wireless services expand capacity, a reseller who can move his base will provide consumers with options that one-system operators cannot … flexibility.
Kevin McAllister, president
San Diego Cellular Communications Inc.
