Bach Seat

CTIA, the Wireless Association, CTIA is the wireless industry’s largest trade group spent $2.4 million in the third quarter of 2010 to lobby federal officials. Bloomberg cites a quarterly disclosure report filed with the U.S House of Representatives.  This marks a new high in CTIA lobbying spending. CTIA spent $2 million spent in the second quarter and $1.3 million that it spent on lobbying in the third quarter of last year, reports Bloomberg. Bloomberg says the trade association lobbied Washington on:

• More radio spectrum for wireless Internet services.
• The FCC’s recently adopted “network neutrality” rules, which prohibit broadband providers from interfering with Internet traffic traveling over their systems.
• The FCC’s legal framework for regulating broadband.
• “Bill shock” rules, which would require wireless companies to alert subscribers before they run out of minutes, hit data usage or text messaging caps, or start racking up international roaming charges.
• The CTIA which represents wireless carriers, like AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, and T-Mobile, says it now generates annual revenues of $155.8 billion.

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Not only is the wireless industry lobbying group, CTIA spending millions every year to buy influence legislation, but the wireless companies are also the leaders in lobbying spending. I wrote about AT&T and Verizon (VZ) both spending over $3 million on lobbying in 2010 here. I wrote about AT&T’s (T) long tradition of spreading its money around to buy influence legislation here. The rational business use of this money says that these firms are getting more benefit by lobbying lawmakers than investing it in their networks, paying a dividend, or putting the money in the bank, but are the best decisions for the rest of us?

Who do you think the politicians are really looking out for?

Ralph Bach has been in IT long enough to know better and has blogged from his Bach Seat about IT, careers, and anything else that catches his attention since 2005. You can follow him on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Email the Bach Seat here.