Wireless industry to Congress: Get rid of the states and let us do our thing.

Rep. Edward Markey, the Massachusetts Democrat who gave the cable industry a collective seizure earlier this month with the introduction of his net neutrality bill, is shopping a draft version of legislation that sets its sights on wireless companies.

The proposed bill, tentatively known as the Wireless Consumer Protection and Community Broadband Empowerment Act, touches on three main topics: mobile phone consumer protection; city-owned telecom networks; and effective government spectrum use.

Specifically the bill looks to extend a 1993 law that prohibited states from regulating wireless rates to also cover consumer protection efforts. State laws governing the wireless industry would be pre-empted unless they were in line with federal laws or had additional enforcement protection, according to the draft bill.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) would also be tasked with making sure wireless companies, among other things, are:

- clear about contact terms and bill charges
- offering pro-rated early termination fees or plans with no termination fees at all
- allowing customers to cancel service within 30 days of purchase
- providing them with available coverage area information
- providing semi-annual status reports to the FCC

Steve Largent, the former Republican congressman who now heads CTIA, the wireless industry's trade association, appeared before Markey's House subcommittee on the Internet and telecommunications, to praise the bill's efforts to pre-empt states consumer protection rules in favor of federal oversight, but basically urged panel members to let the market do its job.

"Inconsistent [state] regulations threaten the pro-consumer benefits that emerged once wireless stopped being local and started being national," Largent said. Congress needs to "finish what it started" with the 1993 law "by extending the national framework to consumer protection."

Wireless companies also already follow a 10-point consumer protection code that the industry approved in 2003, Largent said. "When consumers make a demand, wireless companies have no choice but to say ok," he suggested.

The Consumers Union largely supports the bill, but is concerned that it does not include "a strong provision against application blocking and handset locking," said Chris Murray, senior counsel for the Consumers Union.

Largent suggested that some of Murray's concerns would be addressed by the sale of the c-block in the ongoing 700 MHz spectrum auction, which is required to be open to all applications and devices. Competitive forces will eventually encourage more and more wireless players to become members of the Open Handset Alliance, Largent said.

"I'm worried that perhaps promises aren't going to quite match up with reality" in regards to open access, Murray countered.

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