GAO SAYS FCC SHOULD COLLECT DATA ON WIRELESS SERVICE QUALITY

The GAO report outlined the results of a Nov. 2002 consumer survey that estimated nearly 83% of participating wireless subscribers were satisfied with their service, 9% were unhappy and the rest announced no position. Based on the survey results, GAO estimated that 47% of adult wireless users believed call quality was improving and 5% thought it was getting worse. “We also found that users were experiencing some call quality problems, including a lack of coverage, limited network capacity at times, dropped calls and poor sound quality,” said the report, requested by Rep. Weiner (D-N.Y.).

For the survey, a market research firm posed 26 questions in a national phone survey. The report estimated 22% of users weren’t able to complete 10% or more of calls because they were dropped by the network. GAO said the results of the survey were “mixed” on evidence of call quality problems. In some cases, it said, call quality problems varied according to location, with 45% of users saying they found problems in buildings, 37% while in a car and 18% when they were outside. Among the factors that could affect such issues, GAO said, were that buildings could be constructed of materials that didn’t allow wireless signals to pass to their interiors easily. In buildings such as office complexes or malls, call quality could be the responsibility of the building owner, not the carrier, GAO said. For 55% of the consumers surveyed who had changed carriers, obtaining better quality of calls was a very or somewhat important reason. For 83%, however, price was very or somewhat important, GAO said.

In an April 11 response, Powell told the GAO that “to the extent possible,” future wireless competition reports would include such information. As the sector has matured, Powell said it had seen “marked improvement” in call quality and network performance. He said the FCC had focused on a “deregulatory paradigm” for the industry, leading to lower prices and increased service offerings. “We believe that these competitive forces will continue to compel carriers to monitor and improve the quality and performance of their networks,” Powell said. “Thus, as the mobile telephone industry continues to evolve, we believe that call quality will also benefit from further improvements.”

Powell said that in Dec., the FCC had begun an inquiry into the collection of wireless competition data, asking how it could furnish more complete data for the report it would send to Congress in 2003. The inquiry asked whether quality of service was an available measurement to examine the level of competition.

“As GAO concludes, specific data on call quality is not readily available,” Powell wrote. “Call quality, particularly dropped calls, is a reflection of a carrier’s ability to place additional cellular towers, which is a difficult and cumbersome process because of the environmental, zoning and historical preservation and endangered species issues involved.” As a result, he said, those kinds of call quality issues are difficult to categorize. That lack of data is made more difficult by the “fact that there are no current objective performance standards. Without an objective measurement system, reporting such data may not serve to inform consumers,” he said.

Consumers Union (CU) Legislative Counsel Chris Murray said the survey appeared to show wireless customer satisfaction to be much higher than that up in a released CU survey. In polling 22,000 subscribers to its Web site, CU said it found that 1/3 were dissatisfied with the quality of their service and would switch if they didn’t face hefty termination fees or the prospect of losing their phone number when they shifted providers, Murray said. But he said the recommendation that the FCC begin collecting such service quality information “is something we loudly cheer.” In a forum at the FCC last year on data collection in preparation for the annual wireless report to Congress, Murray said that CU stressed the importance of service quality monitoring. “We know from our own survey that there is almost nothing that consumers want more than wireless quality of service data,” he said.

Wireless service quality has come under increased scrutiny recently from Capitol Hill, state regulators and consumer groups. State regulators are eyeing wireless best practices as a possible measure for averting service quality regulation, with NARUC taking a lead in meeting with regulators and carriers on the issue. The wireless industry also has been working on its own voluntary guidelines for best practices that would help customers compare factors such as service coverage across different companies. Wireless service quality emerged as a theme at the CTIA annual show in March, with House Commerce Committee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.) urging the industry to move “aggressively” on its own voluntary code of conduct because that would avert the need for congressional action. Sen. Schumer (D-N.Y.) introduced a bill earlier this year that would have carriers provide standardized information on rates and network coverage.

The GAO report said major carriers weren’t required to submit data on their network performance to the FCC and declined to furnish such numbers, citing the proprietary nature of the information and how difficult it would be to interpret. Carriers also demurred when asked for data on customer complaints. The GAO said complaint data from sources such as state PUCs weren’t helpful in assessing the extent of service quality problems, in part because there was no consistency in how such numbers were kept.

The report said regulators in countries such as Australia, France and the U.K. had collected wireless network performance information. GAO said several officials it spoke with when preparing the report cited the drawbacks of compiling more detailed service quality data, including the extent to which carriers might have to start measuring issues they hadn’t tracked previously. Additional reporting burdens could pose a particular problem for small carriers, some said. “As a result of these potential drawbacks, FCC and industry participants note that efforts to require FCC or carriers to report more detailed call information or complaints could drive up the price of mobile phone service, limit entry of new carriers, create an uneven playing field in terms of carriers using various technologies,” GAO said.