The Role of Wireless Telecommunications in the Age of Digital Media: USA

The United States faces a double edged sword with the next generation of wireless data services. Consumers enjoy widespread competition from six major nationwide wireless operators, with a variety of standards offering a wide range of data and multimedia capabilities. The resulting competition in price and features has the potential to bring about better customer value and a faster pace of innovation. However, the competition has resulted in a lack of critical mass for emerging mobile services. As different vendors implement features using different standards and progress at different paces, interoperability and standardization have become major hindrances in creating the "network effect" crucial to any widespread adoption of new services. Given this environment, we analyze the conditions under which the United States operates, which services have emerged for digital news and content applications and what services show promise in the future.