The FCC should be wary of comments by handset makers who oppose its Feb. petition seeking Carterfone rules (CD Feb 22 p6) for wireless networks, Skype said. Their comments are colored by fear of carrier reprisals, the Internet phone company said in reply comments. It voiced confidence that the Commission can find a “responsible middle ground” making “burdensome” rules on carriers unnecessary.
Howard Buskirk
Howard Buskirk, Executive Senior Editor, joined Warren Communications News in 2004, after covering Capitol Hill for Telecommunications Reports. He has covered Washington since 1993 and was formerly executive editor at Energy Business Watch, editor at Gas Daily and managing editor at Natural Gas Week. Previous to that, he was a staff reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Greenville News. Follow Buskirk on Twitter: @hbuskirk
The FCC has yet to set a pleading cycle for the Sirius- XM merger, which is extremely unusual for the agency, where starting that process is almost automatic. The satellite radio companies have been on hold almost 3 times as long as usual at the Commission.
American Tower and Global Signal need not do quarterly onsite inspections of their thousands of antennas, if they use electronic monitoring, an FCC order said. The order, which requires annual physical inspections, should save the tower companies significant amounts, PCIA said, urging the FCC to make the policy industrywide. “This order is a sign that the Commission believes remote monitoring serves the public interest,” said Anne Perkins, PCIA mgr.-industry affairs: “It’s an opportunity to modernize the rules to take advantage of technological advances.” Remote monitoring is safer, she said: “You know what’s going on at the tower at all times.” The FCC said the order means thousands fewer inspections, as monitoring systems “reliably diagnose problems, including any failures of control devices, indicators and alarm systems, within real time, and therefore render strict application of the rule unnecessary to serve its underlying purpose.” The Commission said the waivers will encourage other tower owners to “invest in similar state-of-the-art technologies.”
At least 7 small carriers want the FCC to reconsider an April 11 order denying them relief from FCC hearing aid compatibility rules. As of Sept. 16, 2005, the rules required non-nationwide wireless carriers to offer at least 2 wireless handset models for each wireless network technology they offered. The April order denied 6 carriers’ waiver requests, granting in part and denying in part 5 other requests. The order also referred some of the carriers to the Enforcement Bureau for possible financial penalties.
The FCC Fri. terminated another extended proceeding, dismissing as moot 1999 petitions for consideration by Nextel and Rand McNally questioning whether Telecom Act rate integration provisions apply to CMRS. In acting, the FCC ended what could have been a pesky proceeding for carriers, though the questions raised now have little relevance.
Chmn. Martin plans to ask for a vote on revamped E-911 location rules at the May 31 agenda meeting. Martin also will seek a vote on a Katrina report and order, which grows out of a June 2006 notice of proposed rulemaking. Also on the public safety front, sources said, notices of apparent liability against Sprint-Nextel, Alltel and U.S. Cellular for violating location capable handset rules are on circulation. Each notice proposes fines in excess of $1 million for violation of a mandate that 95% of their subscribers have location-capable handsets by Dec. 31, 2005 (CD Jan 8 p1).
Public safety groups asked the FCC to give public safety licensees and Sprint Nextel more flexibility to negotiate rebanding reimbursement agreements, saying the carrier’s narrow interpretation of the rules has led to prolonged, expensive fights. The letter was signed by the Assn. of Public Safety Communications Officials and the major police and firefighter groups and comes amid growing questions about the pace of rebanding.
The FCC should avoid asking carriers for overly granular data in studying sector competition, CTIA said. The group was responding to an agency request for comments on wireless industry competition to go into the agency’s 12th Annual CMRS Competition Report. CTIA said USF money will be key to greater wireless expansion in rural America.
Quietly changing interconnection policies after merging with BellSouth, AT&T now makes cellular competitors pay for wireless-to-wireless calls to AT&T Mobility, formerly Cingular, Sprint Nextel complained to the FCC. Sprint has not finished tallying the yearly cost to it of the change, which affects new interconnections, it said in its filing. Sprint said in comments on CMRS market competition that the change is a recent example of how AT&T and Verizon are adopting policies that are fundamentally anticompetitive. AT&T said in response: “We will review the filing.”
FARMINGTON, Pa. -- Analysts who mainly follow regulatory issues said at the annual FCBA seminar they disagree with colleagues who expect DoJ or the FCC to reject the XM-Sirius merger. Blair Levin of Stifel Nicolaus said N.Y.-based analysts may be misreading the regulatory tea leaves. Anna-Marie Kovacs of Regulatory Source Assoc. and George Reed-Dellinger of Washington Analysis agreed that regulators are likely to approve the satellite radio merger.