The Wall Street Journal ran a great editorial questioning the reasoning behind a new Justice Department investigation of cellphone carriers.

The currently informal investigation will reportedly look into whether or not antitrust violations occur when cellphone carriers enter into exclusive contracts with handset manufacturers.

Following this line of logic, the Justice Department should also investigate car rental companies for the exclusive contracts they have with GPS manufacturers and fast-food outlets for the exclusive marketing deals they have with toy manufacturers and movie studios.

MCA believes that protecting consumer interests should be about ensuring that consumers have choices. And as the WSJ editorial points out, “96% of Americans have a choice of at least three carriers.” Among those carriers, consumers have a multitude of options as to which handset they prefer to use.

American consumers have long benefitted from exclusive marketing deals that service providers have with handset manufacturers. The nature of these agreements provide the impetus for innovation and competitive pricing. The Justice Department should quickly recognize this to be the case and move on to more pressing matters.

categories news