Today the CTIA-The Wireless Association president and CEO Steve Largent has issued a statement in response to a new report by The Brattle Group. The report indicates that the International Trade Commission (ITC) order banning the importation of new broadband wireless devices will cause up to $21.1 billion in economic harm to American consumers and product producers.

Steve Largent’s statement:
“CTIA-The Wireless Association® is deeply concerned that the ITC order banning new models of wireless broadband handsets will cause unprecedented economic harm to tens of millions of American wireless consumers, and because of that we urge President Bush to veto the order.

“The Brattle Group analysis concludes that the ITC order will cause direct economic harm to U.S. consumers and producers estimated to range between $4.3 and $21.1 billion, and will cause billions more in lost productivity across the U.S. economy.

“If the ITC order is allowed to stand, consumers will be denied access to innovative broadband products that promise to improve services and lower prices. According to the Brattle report, the direct economic harm to consumers alone could be as high as $17.7 billion.

“Beyond the telecommunications sector, the ITC decision will cause substantial harm to the entire U.S. economy. The Brattle Group concludes that the effect of the ITC order will spill over to other dynamic sectors, reducing U.S. productivity and resulting in several billion dollars in additional GNP losses.

“The ITC order is particularly troubling because it allows a private patent dispute to inflict unprecedented public harm upon innocent third parties. Under the statutory scheme devised by Congress, the Administration is the last line of defense for protecting the public from these massive economic damages. We strongly urge the Administration to disapprove the ITC order.”

This report was prepared by The Brattle Group’s Dr. Daniel L. McFadden, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, and Dr. Glenn Woroch, Executive Director of the Center for Research on Telecommunications Policy at the University of California, Berkeley.

The Costs of the ITC Downstream Exclusion Order to the U.S. Economy [The Brattle Group]