Mar 22, 2004 12:00 PM,

FCC's Powell opens CTIA show

by Jason Meyers

ATLANTA--

The first-day opening session of CTIA’s Wireless ’04, which marked new association president and CEO Steve Largent’s onstage debut as industry host, primarily focused on the regulatory challenges facing a maturing wireless industry.

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After a brief intro in which he jokingly referred to how quickly he has picked up the barrage of technology acronyms that characterize the sector, Largent introduced FCC Chairman Michael Powell to discuss whether the regulation of the wireless industry--long cited as one of the least regulated and most competitive sectors of telecom--will begin to look like that of a utility as wireless service becomes more utilitarian.

“I think it’s yours to lose, and I don’t expect that you will,” Powell said, noting that the wireless sector has been held up by other industries as a competitive model. “It’s not a utility--it’s a vibrant service in a competitive space.

Powell went on to encourage the wireless industry to keep itself competitive and practice “good corporate citizenship,” citing Largent’s example of how he believes wireless should play a role in Amber Alerts. He also referenced the voice-over-IP opportunity in the wireless sector.

“When you begin to understand VoIP not as telephony but as an Internet application, you see the real potential and the challenges,” Powell said. “It’s going to be a revolution for the wireline side, but I think this industry should wake up to the fact that it’s a tremendous revolution for the wireless side as well.”

During the opening session, Largent also outlined several 1993 to 2003 milestones for the U.S. wireless market as charted by the CTIA: Subscribership has risen from 16 million to 160 million; annual industry revenue has gone from $12 billion to $87 million; customers’ average monthly bills have dropped from $61 to $50; number of cell sites deployed has increased from 13,000 to 163,000; and number of carrier employees has gone from 40,000 to 205,000, he said. He added that 75 million camera phones were sold in 2003, and ringtones generated $3.5 billion in worldwide annual revenue last year.

Largent also introduced a new association logo and mission statement, “Expanding the Wireless Frontier.”