FCC Says NTCH Lacks Standing To Bring Data Roaming Challenge
The FCC acted properly in dismissing an NTCH 2012 petition for reconsideration challenging Verizon’s buy of AWS-1 licenses from SpectrumCo and Cox, the agency said in a brief to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. NTCH challenged…
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that dismissal. NTCH had raised concerns about the deal because of the 45 percent ownership of Verizon Wireless then held by the U.K.’s Vodafone. In the 2015 order (see 1504170050), the FCC said the petition was moot since Vodafone had since sold its stake in Verizon Wireless. NTCH’s arguments are barred by the doctrine of judicial estoppel, the FCC told the court. “NTCH has not established that the relief it seeks from this Court will redress the injury it claims,” the agency said. “Even if it had made that showing, the Court lacks authority to order the relief requested by NTCH -- initiation of a license revocation proceeding against Verizon Wireless -- because an agency’s exercise of prosecutorial discretion is unreviewable.” The FCC also said NTCH lacks standing to bring the challenge. “NTCH claims it has been injured by Verizon Wireless’s dominance of the data roaming market and that its injury would be redressed if the Commission revoked some of Verizon Wireless’s licenses,” the FCC said. “It is unclear how revocation would help NTCH.” NTCH also mischaracterizes the data roaming rule as “toothless," the agency said. “Not so,” the FCC countered. “The Data Roaming Order established a specific complaint process to ensure that the rule is enforceable … and NTCH is availing itself of that mechanism in a pending proceeding before the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau.” The case is NTCH v. FCC, docket 15-1145.