If you've been paying close attention to the issue of wireless carriers blocking text messages in order to quell speech and stifle competition, you'll likely remember Nathan Martin, the CEO and President of Pittsburgh-based startup DeepLocal. Back in July, Martin delivered an impassioned speech at an FCC en banc hearing in Pittsburgh, wherein he described the confusing and prohibitively expensive process that a small company must submit itself to, in order to acquire an SMS short code.
While there's little doubt that Martin's testimony turned a few heads in Pittsburgh, it was delivered at a hearing that dealt almost exclusively with issues relating to fixed broadband. So we're glad to see that Martin has decided to file a written copy of his July testimony with the FCC (PDF link), in a show of support for our text messaging petition. “If the FCC recognized SMS text messaging as a Common Carrier service that is
subject to nondiscrimination rules, much of [the] uncertainty [that small companies in the SMS ecosystem face] would disappear,” Martin writes in a cover letter attached to his testimony. “I urge the FCC to grant the Public Knowledge petition, thereby simplifying this
overly complex process for innovators everywhere and protecting nondiscriminatory access to our communications networks.”
To read the full text of Martin's ex parte filing with the FCC, click here (PDF link)