Howard Buskirk

Despite initial skepticism about the technology, more than 100 operators in 63 countries are offering or preparing to roll out GSM-based EDGE high-speed wireless data technology, 3G Americas said Fri. EDGE is considered an alternative to WiMax.

Wireless carriers and IXCs railed against a NASUCA filing at the FCC asking the Commission to order carriers to follow “truth-in-billing” requirements on customer bills. But a number of state interests agreed with consumer advocates that steps need to be taken to protect the interests of consumers.

The FCC is preparing to vote at its Aug. 4 meeting on a controversial order that would impose reporting requirements on wireless carriers. Commissioners received a proposed order this week, we have learned. While all the details are not clear, industry sources said they have been told it will impose a number of requirements laid out in a rulemaking strongly opposed by wireline and wireless carriers (CD May 27 p1). Wireless carriers told the FCC a requirement that they file information on service outages could harm national security. One wireless carrier source said the information requirement could be the start of the FCC’s delving deeper into service quality issues. The Dept. of Homeland Security has suggested that reports be kept on file at the Information Sharing & Analysis Center in the National Coordinating Center for Telecommunications, not at the FCC.

T-Mobile is asking the FCC to use its order on pending interim UNE rules as a lever to reopen the issue of rates for wireless backhaul, an issue first raised in 2001 but never acted on. CLECs as well are starting to look more closely at the issue, which is a panel topic at CompTel’s fall meeting.

The Justice Dept. has asked for a huge amount of information from other carriers on the individual customers they serve, as DoJ expands its investigation of the Cingular- AT&T Wireless merger. Sources told us the information request, almost unprecedented in scope for a telecom merger, is the clearest sign yet that the merger will get an extremely thorough review.

Nextel and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) announced Mon. that Nextel will become the first major wireless carrier to broadcast “Amber Alert” missing children warnings through text messaging on wireless phones for its customers. Nextel will launch the service in Pa. in the next few months with plans for a national program.

A tentative conclusion that some VoIP phone calls should fall under CALEA is circulating among the FCC commissioners in a notice of proposed rulemaking, we've learned. An FCC source confirmed the rulemaking has been on circulation several weeks. A regulatory attorney who follows VoIP issues said Fri. providers have 2 main concerns. The first concerns the logic by which FCC would make the finding and the implication for VoIP regulation in general. “Does this mean that FCC is prejudging that VoIP is a telecom service under Title 2 [of the Communications Act]? The question is how FCC is going to thread the needle.” The other concern is that many VoIP operators won’t be able to configure their systems to comply with a CALEA (Communications Assistance for Law Enforcement Act) mandate: “Some people don’t have their systems designed to accommodate CALEA,” the attorney said. “Not all companies have a mediated service. Their calls don’t go through a mediated point.” A 2nd regulatory attorney with a VoIP provider said the order could be problematic: “If the goal is to really encourage innovation and new technologies and services as it has been to date…the VoIP community should be free to progress unfettered by legacy regulations.”

The number of former NextWave licenses sold to Cingular or retained by NextWave and already off the market dictates that the FCC must not change auction rules so that fewer licenses will be made available to designated entities (DE) in upcoming Auction 58, DE Council Tree told the FCC in a filing.

Public safety officials expressed anxiety over the many questions left by the FCC decision on the 800 MHZ rebanding -- especially whether Nextel will endorse the plan. Charles Werner, deputy fire chief in Charlottesville, Va., told us Fri. public safety officials remain uneasy with a “bittersweet” victory at the FCC Thurs. “There’s no signal that we've picked up from Nextel that indicates that things are going south,” Werner said. “While on the one hand it’s better for us, we haven’t seen all the details ,and you have Verizon saying they'll pursue this all the way to the Supreme Court. We are just hoping at some point to have certainty.” Werner said he’s cautioning others against putting champagne on ice, for now. “A lot of people are celebrating, but if Nextel does indeed say ‘We just can’t do this,’ we're no better off than we were yesterday,” he said. Six public safety groups that worked with Nextel on the “consensus” said in a press release Fri. they were pleased with the FCC decision: “The FCC’s groundbreaking decision will be positively received in police stations and firehouses all across America.” But Harlan McEwen, a leader of the coalition and former police chief and FBI official, also agreed that many questions remain. McEwen told us in general he was pleased with the decision. “The fact that they made a unanimous decision is quite significant,” he said. “The financial aspects of it are obviously being examined by Nextel. Until they make some kind of a response we just don’t know what their position will be. They're central to the solution.”

The FCC agreed 5-0 Thurs., after months of arguments, to adopt an 800 MHz rebanding plan, which will give Nextel much of what it wanted, including 10 MHz of spectrum in the valuable 1.9 GHz band. But Nextel may have to pay more than $3 billion, beyond the spectrum it agreed to contribute. The FCC is also requiring that Nextel sign a letter of credit for $2.5 billion to cover all public safety transition costs.