In 1999, the US and Europe could not have appeared more different when it came to the subject of cellular communications. In that year roughly 30% of Americans owned a cell phone, in Europe by contrast most countries had already reached the saturation point with some nations like Luxembourg and Sweden with market penetration rates well in excess of 70%. In Europe there was one unified standard for digital wireless communications: GSM. The industry was highly regulated by the EU governments and also highly taxed.

In the US, the story was quite different, not only were there several competing digital standards: TDMA, GSM, CDMA and iDEN but service was relatively expensive and there was an absence of any players with a genuine national presence, though Sprint and the then AT&T Wireless would challenge that argument. Nonetheless, the wireless landscape at the dawn of the 21st century highlights the contrasting approaches of the US and Europe to Free Enterprise.

In Europe industries are highly taxes and tightly regulated, in the US there is a greater emphasis on de-centralization allowing market forces to work. At the time the US model for the wireless industry was denigrated, we had far fewer subscribers and it was quite difficult to travel from one end of the country to another and maintain wireless service. To add to that Europe was on the verge of ushering in the 3G (Third Generation) era of wireless telephony, this would enable cell phone users to transmit data using their phones, Blackberries and PDAs and high rates of speed, the US was far behind in that regard as well.

As Elliott Drucker of Wireless Week noted, much has changed since that time. Today, through consolidation and increased competition in the wireless market, roughly 72% of Americans now own cell phones with significantly lower prices than in 1999 and even less than what European consumers now pay. Where as Europe was on the verge of a 3g wireless revolution at the turn of the century, Drucker notes that European operators are settled with huge debts and have been slow to roll out new data services, while US operators focused on growing their business and reducing costs, allowing them to allocate resources more efficiently and thus enabling the industry to roll out new data services without a mountain of debt to boot.

As a result of these developments American consumers are far better off for choosing a different course rather than opting for the European model. Through a steady application of free market principles prices are lower, quality is greater and access is more pervasive, serving as a testament to free market capitalism and decentralization.
http://www.ctia.org/
http://www.wirelessweek.com/article/CA6316224.html?spacedesc=Features