The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council urged the...
The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council urged the FCC to include data on minority- and women-owned business enterprises (MWBE) in its next wireless competition report. MMTC President David Honig wrote a letter Friday to Wireless Bureau Chief Ruth Milkman raising…
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the issue. Honig said the FCC is “under a statutory obligation to ‘avoid’ ‘excessive concentration’ of spectrum licenses and must promote the inclusion of small businesses, like MWBEs, in the competitive bidding systems it designs to grant licenses to wireless carriers,” but two recent public notices on 16th report on mobile competition do not ask for data on MWBE participation. The Wireless Bureau “should request information on all wireless competitors’ size and race/ethnicity, as well as MWBE contracting and procurement opportunities and participation data and trends, in all notices issued for the upcoming mobile wireless competition report,” Honing said. “The inclusion of this data is consistent with the Commission’s objective to encourage marketplace diversity, as it will help the Commission evaluate the extent to which MWBEs participate in the mobile wireless industry.” Honig told us the letter raises a key issue for MMTC. “Diversity and inclusion are key factors impacting competition,” he said. “When any input to production is artificially restricted, the result is economic inefficiency and higher prices paid by consumers. In wireless, the inputs to production that are restricted are minorities’ and women’s inherent entrepreneurial, managerial, and innovative skills and expertise. Minorities and women are often unable to fully monetize and apply these assets because of the present effects of past discrimination, and because of the high market entry barriers they face in wireless.” The issue is of particular concern since minority groups have led the way in wireless adoption, Honig said. “Minorities are 34 percent of the nation and about 40 percent of wireless customers.”