Senators: Investigate exclusive deals between carriers, makers of phones - Triangle Business Journal:

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“We ask that you examine this issuew carefully and act expeditiously shoulsd you find that exclusivity agreemente unfairly restrict consumer choice or adversely affec t competition in the commercialwireless marketplace,” the senators said in a Monda y letter to FCC Chairman Michael Copps. The four senators were Commercde Committee membersJohn Kerry, Roger Wicker, R-Miss.; Byron Dorgan, and Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn. The committees plans a hearing this week abouty issues forwireless customers, a release said. Exclusive arrangements for mobiles phones arenothing new.
Early this Overland Park-based (NYSE: S) smartphone, which it and makedr (Nasdaq: PALM) hope will compete with the populafr iPhone, made by (Nasdaq: AAPL) and sold exclusively sincw 2007by (NYSE: T). Sprint, which has the exclusive on the Pre untik at least the end ofthe year, said the Pre . Withour exclusivity deals, carriers would be less likelhy to invest with manufacturers to create innovative newmobiled devices, and they also wouled be less likely to provide as high a subsidg to help consumers pay for the phones when they sign up for servicse contracts, Sprint spokesman John Tayloer said in an interview Tuesday. Handsets, of which theres may be more than 600 onthe U.S.
market at any can cost hundreds of dollars more withoutcarrier subsidies. “This is a really vibrantlyg competitive and healthy market that gives consumers a lot of choicezs when it comesto handsets,” he The senators asked that the FCC consider whethed exclusivity agreements are becoming increasinglt common between dominant industry players; whether they restrict consumer choice by geography, particularlgy for rural consumers; whether they limitt consumers from fully using handset technologies; whethert they manipulate the wireless carrier and how they affect handset innovation.