The FCC has obviously fallen under the ‘open-for-business’ rent-seeking model according to its latest move on data roaming requirements. As requests pour in to the FCC to create artificially low prices on data roaming agreements, basically to preclude certain carriers from having to do the capital-intensive job of building out their own networks, they simply want to ride on their competitors’ networks at below market rates. Has anyone noticed that it’s the responsibility of these rent seekers to take care of their own customers, make their own investments and establish their own private roaming agreements? It’s not the FCC’s responsibility and it’s certainly not the responsibility of their competitors to mandate below market data roaming agreements. All the FCC’s proposed order would do is cause more bandwidth congestion, less incentive for providers to build out networks and in the end hurt consumers.
