Tier III Carriers Seek HAC Rule Waiver
At least 16 small wireless carriers filed last-minute requests with the FCC to extend a Sept. 16 deadline to comply with Commission hearing aid compatibility (HAC) rules, raising concerns among hearing impaired groups. Under FCC rules, Tier III providers must offer at least 2 HAC-compliant handset models per air interface by the deadline, and provide in-store testing in each store they own or operate. The latest round of petitioners offered various reasons for failing to meet the deadline.
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Hearing Industries Assn. said it’s “very disturbed about the large number of last-second waiver requests from smaller carriers, who have not explained why they cannot obtain compliant handsets when the larger carriers are already offering them.” The group is reviewing waiver petitions and plans to file comments with the FCC, it said.
The FCC granted 2 waiver requests by national GSM carriers, but the relief it provided won’t help Tier III carriers much, small carriers said. In response to a Cingular petition, the FCC extended until Aug. 1 the deadline for GSM carriers to comply with HAC rules for the 850 MHz band. The agency temporarily adopted recommendations by ATIS and Cingular, saying a dual handset that meets the U3 rating at 1900 MHz, but not at 850 MHz, will be considered HAC-compliant until next Aug. Acting on a T-Mobile waiver request, the FCC extended by 60 days the Sept. 16 deadline for that firm.
The Cingular order provided relief to carriers with dual band handsets but didn’t address other issues raised in Tier III petitions, which came after the FCC acted on Cingular’s request. For example, Dobson Communications said, because the FCC didn’t set a transition for entities availing themselves of the relief in the Cingular order, it needs 60 more days to obtain, test, distribute and offer 2 GSM dual-band HAC handset models to consumers. The T-Mobile petition affects that carrier only and has no impact on small carriers’ petitions, sources said.
Most Tier III petitions sought a one-year extension of the Sept. 16 deadline, claiming compliant handsets aren’t available to small carriers. Others, which still operate TDMA networks, sought 6-month extensions until they have overbuilt their TDMA networks with other air interfaces or have sold them.
It’s not clear whether Tier III carriers will be seen as violating HAC rules, since the FCC didn’t act on their requests before the Sept. 16 HAC deadline. “To the extent that those issues [raised by Tier III carriers] weren’t covered by Cingular order -- which they weren’t because they [petitions] came late -- we can’t make a determination whether they are in violation because that would require a separate Commission action on those requests,” an FCC spokesperson said.