The 411 on mobile 411

Just a few months after the implementation of wireless number portability, another significant number-related controversy is brewing: wireless directory assistance. Bringing the issue to light is the Wireless 411 Consumer Privacy Act, a bill issued late last year in both the House and the Senate that would require wireless customers to opt in if they want their mobile numbers listed in a national database, and would also prevent carriers from charging an additional fee to customers who want their numbers kept private.

Like virtually every other issue facing the rapidly maturing wireless industry, this is a thorny one with strong arguments on both sides. The consumer privacy reasoning is fairly straightforward: Consumers should have the right to keep their numbers private if they wish, and they should not have to opt out (or unwittingly opt in simply by signing a contract with a carrier). On the other hand, the contention of one privacy advocate in a recent New York Times article--that a wireless directory would destroy the "sanctuary" of the cell phone--ignores the ascension of wireless in the communications services hierarchy and the service's ever-increasing importance as a utility in consumers' lives.

The wireless carrier side of the debate is pro-directory. If carriers' only reason to support the existence of a directory were to advance the importance of wireless service by putting it on equal footing with wireline service, that would be commendable. Furthermore, if the existence of a mobile directory boosts revenue by increasing traffic and mobile transactions, great. But it would be wrong for wireless service providers to support directory assistance simply because of the money they could make from fees charged to customers who don't want their numbers included.

There must be a middle ground somewhere between including opt-in provisions in tiny type on a wireless contract, making it exorbitantly expensive for customers to opt out, and over-regulating the issue by exorcising the very existence of a wireless number directory. Let's hope the wireless sector can see its way clear to finding a pro-industry, pro-consumer resolution to this issue.

E-mail me at jmeyers@primediabusiness.com