The Consumer Federation of America renewed its attack on the Cingular-AT&T Wireless merger, arguing in a white paper that the Justice Dept. should reject the merger because it will hurt local telephone competition. The paper draws a connection between the potential effect on wireless competition and growing concerns about telecom prices with the phase-out of the UNE-P and resulting departure of CLECs from some markets.
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
Wireless carriers are planning a series of meetings at the FCC to convince the Commission to move forward on its long-awaited National Programmatic Agreement (NPA) on cell tower siting, worked out in 3 years of negotiation. CTIA and Verizon Wireless met with a key staffer for Comr. Copps last week in what is seen as the effort’s kickoff.
Ultra-wideband industry officials say a final decision by the IEEE could be a year or more away on UWB standards on 802.15.3a, resolving the fight between the Motorola-led DS- UWB Forum and the Intel-Texas Instrument-led MBOA. An MBOA official said Thurs. the group may bypass IEEE entirely until after it has a working product.
CTIA and wireless carriers concerned about a pending proposal that they provide outage information to the FCC got critical support for their arguments that the reporting could have negative implications for homeland security. Rep. Davis (R-Va.), chmn. of the House Govt. Reform Committee, said requirements proposed by FCC run counter to the Critical Infrastructure Information Act (CIIA) approved by Congress in 2002. “The proposed FCC regulations run counter to the CIIA provisions, would reverse the intended impact of the Act, and negate the role of DHS in the protection of our nation,” Davis wrote Chmn. Powell in a letter Wed. “The FCC proposal is not crafted from a security perspective. We do not want to create additional vulnerabilities for critical infrastructure sectors.” FCC is expected to vote at its Aug. meeting on an order that would impose mandatory reporting requirements on wireless carriers. Davis asked the FCC to consider the full implications for CIIA before moving forward with a vote. A top wireless lobbyist said the letter shows growing concerns about the FCC proposal: “I think there are folks at DHS who are just tuning into the fact that the order may be counter to what they're trying to achieve on homeland security.”
The benefits of the 800 MHz rebanding order are so significant for public safety groups that it’s unlikely rival carriers will go to court to seek a stay when the order is eventually released by the FCC, Nextel Senior Vp Robert Foosaner said Wed. during an earnings call with analysts.
In a development raising red flags for wireless carriers, regulators in Neb. and Ohio suspended on a long- term basis a requirement that LECs port numbers to their wireless competitors. Sources said the decisions Tues. could add pressure on the FCC to issue an order on who pays the cost of transporting calls under its nationwide LNP mandate.
In what’s shaping up as the next potential big spectrum fight, the FCC is contemplating a release at its Sept. meeting or earlier of a rulemaking clearing the way for the auction of H-block spectrum, sources told us Tues. The FCC is expected both to reallocate the spectrum and propose service rules to make an auction possible.
Cingular and AT&T Wireless turned over to the FCC late last week hundreds of pages of documents responding to a June 30 request for information on the companies’ proposed merger. In another merger development, Rogers Communications announced that the deadline expired at midnight Sun. for AT&T Wireless to sell its 34% in Rogers Wireless.
The U.S. Appeals Court, D.C., Fri. ordered the FCC to reconsider a 2002 Verizon petition seeking forbearance from Sec. 271 unbundling requirements when they're lifted under Sec. 251 of the Telecommunications Act. The decision was a potential win for the Bells that they hope will prompt a quick decision regarding Sec. 251 rules for broadband loops.
The FCC is preparing to vote out an order that would hold push-to-talk (PTT) phone calls are subject to CALEA. The order is expected to be released concurrently with a proposed rulemaking on CALEA. Sources told us the PTT provisions are causing little initial concern. A Nextel spokesman said that the carrier, which has the most PTT phones in circulation, can readily comply with CALEA. “Nextel has been compliant with CALEA since the Winter Olympics 2 years ago in Salt Lake City,” the spokesman said. “This hasn’t been a problem for Nextel for a couple of years now.”