TAUZIN CONCERNED AT RISK OF NEW STATE WIRELESS REGULATIONS

“Most state regulatory bodies are anxious to get their hands back on the business of regulating communications,” Tauzin said. “The more the states take the initiative in that area, the more we're going to be tempted to move some sort of federal preemption if that’s required.” He urged CTIA to continue work on voluntary best practices guidelines.

Tauzin said that spectrum issues that he saw in Congress included a broader look at spectrum management, including the respective roles of the FCC and NTIA, on which Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. McCain has expressed an interest. Telecom Subcommittee Chmn. Upton (R-Mich.), who was in the audience, is “ready to go” on a spectrum relocation trust fund bill and plans to hold a hearing by the end of the month, Tauzin said. He said he expected Upton to move “aggressively to get it to the floor for a vote” after that. “We are also going to look at spectrum management itself and whether we can come up with better management,” he told a packed audience at the opening session of the 3-day conference. One question is whether the dual regulatory structure of NTIA over govt. spectrum and FCC over private users is “workable” and whether it can be improved, he said. Another is whether improvements are needed in the Interdepartmental Radio Advisory Committee: “We're going to give that some serious thought.”

CTIA Pres. Tom Wheeler said Cal.’s proposed “consumer bill of rights” included a provision that before a carrier could offer a service that might affect a subscriber’s privacy, which in a digital world would cut a wide swath, the state would have to provide approval first. While expressing sympathy with an argument that federal action might be needed to prevent a patchwork of state regulations, Tauzin said: “The problem there is if you count on Congress to preempt, Congress may substitute its own national framework of regulation. That’s always a danger you have to think about.” In a swipe at the recent Triennial Review order, he said: “We certainly in the last month have learned that the FCC can’t be counted upon to prevent the states from overregulating. They just turn it over.”

Along with making more spectrum available for 3rd- generation systems, Tauzin, in a Q&A with Wheeler, cited the importance of clearing the 700 MHz band for public safety and other users by completing the DTV transition. He also stressed the need for full implementation of Phase 2 of Enhanced 911. “Rather than pointing fingers, we really need to circle the wagons on this one and consider where we get the funds to really make this fully implementable.”

FCC Chmn. Powell, in a separate keynote, also cited the role of adequate funding in completing E911 rollouts. The complications in E911 implementation include the number of variables and industry and govt. segments involved. “It’s difficult to pronounce it to be so and expect it to happen,” he said. The FCC does have a role in bringing different stakeholders to the table and is doing so as part of an E911 Coordination Initiative that will hold its first meeting April 29, he said.

One concern about delays in E911 rollout has been the intersecting roles of LECs, public safety answering points (PSAPs) and wireless carriers. The effort will bring together state govts., public safety groups and the wireless industry “to try to find a coordinated way of getting this done,” Powell said. The point is to make sure that no single one of those groups is bearing a disproportionate burden in “getting a national cherished resource into place,” he said.

The goals will include setting up a “schematic” so stakeholders have a clear understanding of conditions under which their particular obligations kick in, Powell said. “At the bottom of this pool you are going to find still a need for money,” he said. “Local governments who are principally responsible for the PSAPs are in tough budgetary times.” Solutions may involve Congress, the National Governors’ Assn. or the White House, he said. “One of the things those coordination issues do is to help boil away the symptoms and get to the root of the problem.”

The new Dept. of Homeland Security will want to have a role, including “at a minimum” an office and an organization dedicated to organizing with the FCC and “its unique responsibilities in this area,” Powell said. “As the new department comes on line, we will have a richer and deeper relationship with them.”

Tauzin again said he was troubled by the outcome of the FCC’s Triennial Review decision, saying it created “51 different regulatory battles, perhaps 51 different lawsuits and 12 different court of appeals cases.” As for the potential impact on the wireless sector if states had broader regulatory authority through pending consumer protection measures, he said he was particularly concerned about states’ having to pre-approve new offerings. “If the government is going to dictate the terms of every offering in communications, if it has to pre-approve every new innovation, can you imagine how slow things are going to innovate?” He said: “That’s the sort of thing we have to be on our toes to avoid.”

“I can’t encourage your industry more than to urge you to move aggressively on your own code of conduct,” Tauzin said. In recent months, CTIA has been involved in industry efforts to craft voluntary best practices guidelines that would aim to provide consistency in areas such as billing and presentation of network coverage so that consumers more easily could compare the offerings of different carriers. “Any time you can do that in a way that produces something that consumers really like you avoid the momentum for state or Senate bills passing in Congress.” Wheeler responded: “Message received.”