European Commission plans to force down high data roaming prices won cautious support from some EU lawmakers, telecom industry members and a consumer group, at a Tuesday hearing before the European Parliament Industry, Research and Energy Committee. But others, including the EC’s own advisory panel, the Body of European Regulators of Electronic Communications (BEREC) providers, said the plan is too complex and lacks ambition, and that lackluster competition in the roaming market should be attacked by other means.
AT&T pulled the plug on its proposed buy of T-Mobile on Monday. AT&T said in a statement that, after “a thorough review of options it has agreed with Deutsche Telekom … to end its bid to acquire T-Mobile.” The announcement brings to an end the fight over AT&T’s dramatic announcement in March that it would buy one of the remaining three national carriers. The topic has dominated industry discussions since. AT&T did not comment on the size of the break up fee it ultimately will have to pay DT.
Verizon Wireless asked the FCC to approve its buy of 122 AWS licenses from cable consortium SpectrumCo, a $3.6 billion deal unveiled Dec. 2 (CD Dec 5 p5). Verizon’s filing makes a case for why approval would be in the public interest. But some critics have emerged who hope the FCC will block the deal as a step away from a competitive wireless market.
The FCC should impose a time limit on negotiations over roaming agreements between carriers, said MetroPCS and other small carriers in a filing at the FCC. AT&T, however, said the FCC has already explained why a requested 60-day shot clock is not necessary.
Congress seems likely to eventually pass incentive auction authority for mobile satellite service S-band spectrum, though the issue may be moot once Dish Network takes control of the spectrum, said industry executives. While there are several pieces of legislation in Congress which differ between authorizing general incentive auction authority or specifying MSS spectrum, either way would have the effect of giving the FCC the ability to auction the spectrum, they said.
The fate of spectrum legislation remained in flux Monday as members of Congress continued to squabble over an extension of the payroll tax cut. Lobbyists consider the payroll bill the “last train out of town” this year for spectrum legislation. Spectrum reform was nearly left behind when the Senate agreed late Friday on a bipartisan basis to a two-month rather than year-long deal (CD Special Bulletin Dec. 17). But in a surprise move, House Republicans vowed to pull back the measure and lobbyists now view a two-month extension as dead in the water.
The FCC’s newly reconstituted Communications Security, Reliability and Interoperability Council approved a report Friday on next-generation 911 standards development. The report was the first to be approved by the new CSRIC and had to be completed within a tight eight-week timeframe. The report was still being finalized and was not released by CSRIC Friday.
The FCC is likely to approve Time Warner Cable’s $3 billion purchase of Insight Communications, agency and industry officials told us last week. They said career agency officials from the Media and Wireline bureaus are working on reviewing the deal, and seem poised to soon recommend it be approved. The forthcoming order would waive a rule barring common LEC/cable system ownership in the same franchise area, the industry and commission officials said. They said the companies, though, may not get the order approved before the end of this year (CD Dec 5 p18), as they have asked be done.
The House passed an omnibus appropriations bill including $340 million for the FCC for fiscal year 2012. It voted 296-121 to pass the measure Friday afternoon. The omnibus was the result of bipartisan negotiations, and the Senate was expected to approve the measure later Friday or early Saturday. Meanwhile, negotiations continued in the Senate on the payroll tax cut legislation that contains language authorizing the FCC to conduct voluntary incentive auctions. The Senate was expected to vote early Saturday, unless it reaches a deal sooner.
Cox Communications agreed to follow three cable peers and sell AWS spectrum licenses to Verizon Wireless. Also like the carrier is doing with Bright House Networks, Comcast and Time Warner Cable (CD Dec 5 p5), Verizon Wireless and Cox will promote and market each other’s service. The agreements take off the table another chunk of AWS spectrum and come at a per-MHz/POP price that appears lower than what Verizon Wireless agreed to pay the SpectrumCo members for their AWS licenses. Foes of industry consolidation said the deals are beginning to raise competition concerns.