The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has released a report (GAO Report) commissioned by Representatives Rick Boucher (D-VA), Edward Markey (D-MA) and Henry Waxman (D-CA) highlighting various barriers to competition in the mobile marketplace. The report, officially entitled “Enhanced Data Collection Could Help FCC Better Monitor Competition in the Wireless Industry,” makes one major recommendation and numerous observations. As the title suggests, GAO recommends that the FCC broaden its data collection effort so as to include more primary sources and have it encompass a greater variety of input and output factors. The GAO Report concludes that despite rosy numbers for the industry as a whole, consumers face fewer purchasing options and the FCC should cull more statistics and data to make meaningful policy decisions that increase meaningful competition. The long awaited recognition by the government that insufficient competition in the wireless marketplace is hurting rural wireless consumers may hopefully start the FCC on the road to addressing this competitive imbalance, with the first step being improved data collection. Contact James Mardis for a complete overview of the GAO report.