T-Mobile, Others Urge FCC To Act on Wireless ICC Petitions
T-Mobile urged the FCC to act at its Feb. meeting on a petition it and 2 other independent carriers filed 2-1/2 years ago challenging certain “unlawful” LEC state tariffs. “The Commission’s failure to act on this petition has harmed consumers and impeded wireless carriers’ ability to serve rural markets,” T-Mobile CEO Robert Dotson said in an ex parte filing with the FCC Wed.: “Prompt resolution of this longstanding petition is a matter that is of the highest priority for T-Mobile and its customers.”
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The FCC has been expected to issue an order at its Feb. meeting addressing this and another petition filed by Sprint in May 2002 on rating and routing, among other things. But one industry official involved said there was “a rumor” the Commission would probably limit its action by issuing an NPRM. “The question is whether the FCC will issue an order or defer resolution of that issues,” the official said. He said he was “concerned” about a possible delay: “It’s extremely important that they [FCC] will address it now, because they are preventing us from competing in rural territories and are harming rural consumers.” Another industry official said: “It’s my understanding that the FCC is considering an order on the wireless petitions.” A regulatory counsel to one wireless carrier involved said: “We don’t know at this point what the Commission will do,” but “it’s important that FCC doesn’t put it off any longer.”
An FCC official said the item was still expected to contain both the order and further notice. “The intention is to keep it that way,” the official said: “While some minor parts of the order could drop off, the intention right now is to keep the order largely intact.”
CTIA, Western Wireless, Sprint and Verizon Wireless have filed letters with the FCC the past several weeks urging Commission action. CTIA has been holding meetings at the Commission, and one industry source said he'd been at the Commission “every day for the past several weeks” lobbying on the issue. A Western Wireless spokesman said his company was “very supportive” of the T-Mobile letter: “We are glad T-Mobile sent it.” He said his company wasn’t expected to send a separate “executive” letter to the Commission now.
“This is something that the whole wireless industry cares about,” CTIA Vp-Regulatory Policy Diane Cornell said: “We are hoping that this all will be on the February agenda.” She said she hadn’t heard of any possible changes in the Commission’s plan to issue an order on the petitions. Another industry official said it was important that the Commission address the petitions before moving forward with a broader intercarrier compensation order. “Wireless and LEC carriers are battling each other in more than 20 states,” which is “creating an environment where it’s impossible to have a proper debate on intercarrier compensation,” the official said: “If LECs think they would be able to obtain very high rates from wireless, there is no reason for them to focus on the reform. In fact, the last thing they would want is to focus on the reform.”
“It’s important that the [T-Mobile] CEO is writing in,” Cornell said: “It emphasizes that this issue should be decided now.” Another industry official said that because of its importance, the issue “demanded the attention of T-Mobile’s CEO.” Another executive who has filed a letter on the issues with the FCC is CTIA Chmn. and First Cellular CEO Terry Addington.
“Unilateral and discriminatory LEC tariffs charge wireless carriers grossly excessive rates to terminate local exchange traffic,” the T-Mobile letter said. Carriers had concerns that while a “going rate” for intercarrier compensation was .0007 cents per min., the LECs charged wireless carriers .06-.08 cents. That raises wireless customers’ costs and forces wireless carriers to subsidize their competitors, T-Mobile said in the letter. “The Commission’s inaction to date has allowed them to proliferate in more than 20 states, particularly in rural LEC service areas,” the letter said: “Formal state commission proceedings addressing these tariffs are underway in some 13 states.” T-Mobile also said a few state commissions had approved the tariffs, “underscoring the need for federal uniformity to end the current instability and uncertainty and to eliminate the harmful effects of disparate state rulings.”
T-Mobile said the issues presented by the petition were “not novel.” It said both federal courts and the Commission had found “these types of mandatory ‘default’ termination tariffs are inconsistent with the federal law.” T-Mobile said it wasn’t aware of “any filing by any party” in the proceeding that “raises serious doubts as to the anticompetitive and illegal nature of these tariffs.”