2017 FCC Wireless Competition Report

The tanks are rolling forward, over all of us . . . and nobody in the Federal, State and Local governments care. It’s business as usual: if we spin the same fables and self-serving narratives over and over, the people will just believe/accept them.



Ajit Pai, acting FCC Chairman, on-camera, at an FCC open meeting news conference —
hiding behind a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup cup.

Of course, Bruce Kushnick, contributing to the Huffington Post, once again, has the best data and analysis to explain what is really going on here: propaganda from an obviously Captured Agency

The FCC released the “Twentieth Annual Report and Analysis of Competitive Market Conditions with Respect to Mobile Wireless”; a propaganda piece on Wireless competition in America to help AT&T and Verizon. As we will discuss, the statistics and presentation are based on a questionable manipulation of the facts, or more importantly, it is the omission of basic information that is the real problem.

20th Annual Report and Analysis of Competitive Market Conditions,
With Respect to Mobile Wireless, Including Commercial Mobile Services

A 95 page report published on 9/27/17

Vote to accept and release report: 3-2, with Commissioners Clyburn and Rosenworcel dissenting over whether or not the market is competitive or meeting mobile needs in rural areas.

Mobile Data Usage per Subscriber 2010 – 2016

Source: CTIA Wireless Industry Indices Year-End 2016; 20th Report, Appendix 1

LTE Broadband Coverage

Estimated Mobile LTE Broadband Coverage by Census Block Year-End 2016

Source: Jan. 2017 Mosaik (centroid), Census 2010.
Note that the number of service providers in a census block represents network coverage only.
Network coverage does not necessarily reflect the number of service providers that actively
offer service to individuals located in a given area.

Download Speeds

LTE Download Speeds, Nationwide

Source: Ookla SPEEDTEST intelligence data, © 2017 Ookla, LLC. All rights reserved.
Published with permission of Ookla. The “Total” mean and median nationwide estimates are based on
test results for all service providers included in the Ookla sample dataset.

Spectrum

Spectrum Holdings by Band

Source: 20th Report

Market Shares

Market Shares for Mobile Wireless Service Providers Based on Total Connections, 2013 – 2016
Source: UBS US Wireless 411; Table II.B.1, 20th Report