Federal Communications Commission (FCC)

Supported by at least 2 Bell companies, USTA urged the FCC in comments to leave the IP-enabled services market free of economic regulation. But some consumer groups argued the Commission should subject VoIP to Title II regulation to protect consumers, and use its authority to exempt such services from unnecessary regulations. The Local Govt. Coalition reminded the FCC it had “no power to adopt a comprehensive scheme for regulating information services independent of Title II, Title III or Title VI” of the Communications Act. Meanwhile, states pressed for a technology-neutral functional approach to VoIP oversight. “Regulators should not be choosing technology winners and losers,” NARUC Gen. Counsel Brad Ramsay told us. More comments were expected after our deadline Fri.

Wireless carriers raised strong objections to a proposed requirement that they file information on service outages, saying in comments on the FCC proposal that the filings could harm the national security they're supposed to bolster. But wireless sources told us Wed. they believe the FCC appears likely to impose the requirements regardless of industry objections. Carrier sources also said they worry the filings could be the start of more FCC intrusion in the area of wireless service quality.

FCC Wireline Bureau Senior Deputy Chief Jeffrey Carlisle called for using VoIP as an opportunity to reexamine existing telecom regulations. “VoIP provides the last best chance to re-examine the federal and state regulatory structures in place, and we'll be fools if we don’t take this opportunity,” he told a VoIP workshop sponsored by CompTel/Ascent in Washington Tues. “Why do we continue to do the same things over and over again when we know many of the [regulatory] requirements make little sense, at least when applied to the majority of small providers and certainly as applied to innovators who might want to get into the market?” he asked: “Why do we do this when we also know that the primary economic beneficiaries of these activities are lawyers and paper companies?”

The proposed Cingular-AT&T Wireless merger faces no meaningful objections and should face no hurdles at the FCC, the firms told the Commission in reply comments in the merger docket. “This merger has met with very little opposition. Indeed, no wireless carrier -- [and] for that matter, no telecommunications company of any type -- has opposed the merger. The only telecommunications company that made a filing, United States Cellular Corp., stated that the merger is in the public interest.” The companies said no filers against the merger had standing to challenge the deal under the Communications Act: “The eight oppositions that were filed came from: A shell corporation that, years ago, was a wireline [competitive local exchange carrier]; 2 consumer organizations; parties with unrelated private disputes with one or the other of the applicants; and a few individuals.” Cingular and AT&T also answered criticisms by the Consumers Federation of America and Consumers Union that the merger would raised concern because Cingular is jointly owned by BellSouth and SBC: “Nothing about the merger will change the nature or extent of the current relationship between Cingular and its parents. Nor is there any basis to question the continuing ability of market forces and regulatory oversight to preclude the imagined misconduct with respect to the special access market.”

FCC Chmn. Powell called for timely solutions to problems of access by people with disabilities to emerging IP-enabled technologies. Pushing aside his prepared remarks and talking “from my experience and from my heart” during an FCC Solutions Summit Fri. in Washington, he said there’s been “always the same criticism and problem about policy approach to disability access issues -- it’s always been retrofitted. It’s always been bolted on at the end. And it’s always twice as difficult, because it’s been thought of at the end, after investments have been made, choices have been made, polices have been developed.” He urged the disability community to participate actively in the Commission work on disability issues.

Promotions in FCC Wireless Bureau Broadband Div.: Stephen Buenzow to assoc. division chief; Peter Corea to special counsel… Peter Ritcher, ex-SBC, named Cingular Wireless CFO… New on Fine Point Technologies board: Edward English of Performance Partnering, Bruce Luehrs, Edison Venture Fund, and Edward McCrossen, Fiberlink Communications… Hellenic Telecom named Panagis Vourloumis, ex-Frigoglass, chmn. and CEO… Optibase promoted Danny Lustiger to CFO… New at Electronic Frontier Foundation: Tim Pozar, ex-Bay Area Research Wireless Network, technical dir.; Analee Newitz, ex-San Francisco Bay Guardian, media coordinator/policy analyst… Howard Buskirk, ex- Telecommunications Reports, named Communications Daily senior editor, covering wireless… NARUC nominated Mich. PSC Comr. Robert Nelson to the Federal State Joint Board on Universal Service, replacing Nan Thompson of Alaska, who leaves the Alaska Commission… Promotions at Cox: Bob Wilson to senior vp-programming; Linda Kohlhagen to vp-gen. mgr., Cox Media Orange Co.; Tina Denicole to vp-business operations, Las Vegas; Winston Warrior to dir.-high speed Internet mktg… Jennifer Reichenbach, ex-Turner Bcstg., returns to Discovery as vp-new media distribution; Sandi Castro, ex-Fresh Pictures, becomes account dir.-western region… Jim Paluzzi, ex-Boise State Radio, named to new position of vp-applied technology, Colo. Public Radio.

SBC filed an emergency petition with the FCC asking it to “immediately clarify that section 252 [of the Telecom Act] does not apply to private commercial arrangements for the provision of products or services outside the scope of section 251.” It said the Commission should “preempt any state requirements that such arrangements be filed with and approved by state commissions.” At issue is SBC’s commercial 7-year deal with Sage Telecom, covering 11 SBC states where Sage does business. SBC said in a news release it would start to file with state regulators amendments to their interconnection agreements to reflect commercially negotiated agreements with Sage “that are called for” by the Telecom Act. An SBC spokesman said SBC isn’t going to file the entire Sage agreement, only the parts of it required to be filed under Sec. 251.

Wireless carriers urged the FCC to exempt them from the requirement to seek express prior authorization before sending mobile service commercial messages (MSCMs) to their customers, as long as customers weren’t charged for them. “A requirement to seek such ‘opt-in’ consent would raise a serious constitutional issue as to whether such a requirement would be an unlawful restriction on commercial speech,” Verizon Wireless said in comments: “There is no reason to reach that issue because an exemption for wireless carriers to communicate with their own customers is warranted.” Cingular Wireless said the wireless data industry was “in its infancy,” and the Commission should be “especially careful to adopt no rules that would interfere with the relationship between wireless service providers and their customers.” Nextel agreed, but said the FCC shouldn’t exempt small businesses from the prior-express-authorization requirements.

The FCC hired a biological consulting firm to review studies on the impact that communications towers may have on migratory birds. The studies were cited in comments the FCC received in response to a notice of inquiry released in Aug. FCC Chmn. Powell said the agency retained Avatar Environmental Services to help the FCC meet its obligations under the National Environmental Policy Act and other federal environmental laws. Powell last year had pledged a more active approach to environmental and historic preservation issues related to tower siting, including stepped-up enforcement and the inquiry on the impact of towers on migratory birds. At the time, Powell said the agency was considering hiring a staff biologist to work on bird issues. Avatar will “give the Commission access to the services of experts with training and experience in evaluating the impact of construction projects on animal and plant species, and who have performed similar services for other agencies.” The FCC said Avatar’s expertise will allow the agency to better “assess the impact of communications towers on migratory birds and more efficiently… process applications that implicate biological issues.” In comments last year on the notice of inquiry, many industry representatives urged the FCC not to take further regulatory steps to address migratory bird deaths at towers until additional scientific research is conducted. Environmental groups, however, said the FCC has already received extensive information on the subject but continued to violate environmental laws in its tower licensing program.

Public safety and other officials told the FCC they need better data on Enhanced 911 implementation, including the accuracy of emergency caller location information in individual markets. The National Governors Assn. (NGA) released a report at the FCC’s E911 Coordination Initiative Wed. that indicated there’s no agreed-upon method for tracking E911 progress.