Subject Matters

Interesting story @ Reuters by David Lawsky:

The European Commission in Brussels is proud of its role in helping promote a uniform telephone standard across the European Union. The Federal Communications Commission in Washington is proud of its role in letting the market decide.

Europe touts the broad use of the GSM standard as a measure of success. It is now used in more than 100 countries around the world and has ushered in sophisticated multimedia telephone service in many countries.

The GSM system exists in the United States but so do other, inconsistent systems, reflecting the U.S. policy of letting the market decide what technology to adopt.

“Wireless communications is by far the most competitive and innovative market in the Commission’s purview,” FCC Chairman Michael Powell said last year.

An FCC report said American mobile users talk more and pay less than Europeans, citing it as “evidence that the U.S. market is effectively competitive” compared to Europe and Japan.

But eight of 10 European Union residents have mobile phone numbers while only six of 10 Americans do.

And Western Europe mobile operators pulled in $142 billion of revenue in 2004, compared to only $104 billion in the United States, according to Marta Munoz of Ovum a consulting firm in London.

But the United States is catching up. U.S. revenues grew at 11 percent, compared to only 9 percent for Western Europe, Munoz said.