The Justice Department has opened an antitrust investigation into potential coordination by AT&T, Verizon and a telecommunications standards organization to hinder consumers from easily switching wireless carriers, according to six people with knowledge of the inquiry.
In February, the Justice Department issued demands to AT&T, Verizon and the G.S.M.A., a mobile industry standards-setting group, for information on potential collusion to thwart a technology known as eSIM, said two of the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the details are confidential.
The problem, of course, is that in the US, these carriers bribe corrupt politicians to enact laws to hinder competition, for instance by making community broadband initiatives illegal. I doubt investigations like these will do anything to fix the root cause.
But hey, it’s a start.
Yeah, at the rate it’s going, USA will probably have totally proprietary and web-only comps blue computers in about 10 years.
Australia has had free number portability for over 20 years. It is a simple online procedure and the number is ported in a couple of hours (at most). It works for both landlines and mobiles.
But only because its a *gasp* government requirement. https://www.acma.gov.au/Industry/Telco/Numbering/Portability/mobile-…
And we all know government intervention is automatically worse than oligopolies colluding in a free market!
China is a great distraction these days, maybe the Government should clean up their own house before bothering others.