The Federal Communications Commission (finally) adopted an order to implement one of the significant recommendations of its National Broadband Plan: data roaming for mobile broadband services.

In 2007, the FCC required wireless carriers to offer roaming service to their competitors to use their facilities for voice calls, on reasonable prices or terms. But that order punted on the question of whether to extend roaming obligations to data services. Now, four years later, the FCC has answered the question, adopting an order that requires wireless carriers to open their networks for competitive use.

As Free Press and others have been saying for years now, the wireless market is broken. Getting the rules right on data roaming is a necessary part of creating a more competitive and consumer-friendly industry. Despite some potential loopholes, the FCC’s data roaming order is overall a positive step, and if it’s enforced properly, it will help.

But the FCC must not stop there – many other significant hurdles stand in the way of effective competition in the wireless industry, and there is ample reason to believe the state of competition will become much worse in the near term, not better.

Understanding the past, present, and future context of wireless competition is essential in order to fully understand the FCC’s data roaming order and its potential implications. The past few years have seen rapid growth in mobile broadband adoption and usage. Through their control over essential backhaul services and popular smartphones, AT&T and Verizon Wireless have turned that growth into greater market share and profit margins. The increased demand for mobile broadband has led today to what some might consider an existential evaluation of current spectrum allocations, fueled by a widely-held and hotly