The Rural Cellular Association withdrew its long-pending petition for FCC...
The Rural Cellular Association withdrew its long-pending petition for FCC rulemaking to address the widespread use of exclusivity arrangements (http://xrl.us/bm7yma). “While it remains a concern, eliminating device exclusivity will mean little if devices are not interoperable,” RCA President Steven Berry…
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wrote Friday. RCA filed the petition for rulemaking in 2008, arguing that exclusive arrangements between carriers and device manufacturers result in the largest carriers having “bottleneck control over a key input,” impairing competition from small, midsize and rural carriers (CD Oct 15/08 p9). RCA withdrew the petition after becoming “encouraged” by the commission’s recent decision to release a notice of proposed rulemaking seeking comment on how to achieve interoperability in the lower 700 MHz band. “RCA believes that the Commission can most effectively advance a pro-competitive agenda by focusing at this time on its interoperability proceeding, while continuing to monitor developments relating to exclusivity arrangements,” the association said, noting that it’s prepared to re-file the petition “at an appropriate time” if exclusivity arrangements “continue to impede its members’ ability to compete."