Martin Close on Continental Airlines-Massport Decision
Chmn. Martin’s office is reportedly drafting an item that addresses a petition for a declaratory ruling filed by Continental Airlines last summer, asking the FCC to declare Mass. Port Authority’s lease restrictions regarding installation, maintenance and use of Wi-Fi antenna at Boston’s Logan Airport in violation of the Commission’s Over the Air Reception Devices rules. At issue is Continental’s use of a WiFi antenna in its frequent flyer lounge at Logan and Massport’s demand that Continental cease using that antenna and instead provide WiFi service via Massport-sponsored service provider AWG’s system. The item has yet to circulate on the 8th floor. Lobbyists representing wireless carriers, several airlines and UPS met with Martin last week in a meeting arranged by former FCC Comr. Henry Rivera, counsel to Continental.
Sign up for a free preview to unlock the rest of this article
Communications Daily is required reading for senior executives at top telecom corporations, law firms, lobbying organizations, associations and government agencies (including the FCC). Join them today!
Martin asked relatively few questions and provided little hint on what steps the FCC might take, sources said. “There wasn’t a lot of feedback,” one source said: “It was a listening meeting.” “The chairman was very attentive,” said another source.
Attending last week’s meeting were lawyers for CTIA, T-Mobile, the Air Transport Assn. of America, American Airlines, the Enterprise Wireless Alliance, United Airlines and UPS. The group said in an ex parte filing it argued during the meeting that such prohibitions are blocked by the Commission’s Over-the-Air Reception Devices rules, which give the FCC sole authority over the devices.
The Continental fight with Massport isn’t an isolated case, the group said. In June 2005, Massport ordered Continental and Delta to remove Wi-Fi antennas and American Airlines to remove a wired broadband system from their frequent flyer lounges. Massport’s actions were based on financial interests, not safety concerns, the filing asserts. “Massport’s demands coincided with the grant of an exclusive contract to AWG for the installation, operation and maintenance of a commercial airport-wide Wi-Fi system for the provision of Wi-Fi service throughout Logan,” the filing said: “Massport’s position is that everyone at Logan must use the AWG system.”
Under the arrangement devised by Massport, all options available to consumers result in money flowing to the authority, the group said. Wi-Fi users can pay $7.95 per day per user or become a customer of iPass or Boingo, which have an agreement with AWG. Alternately, the airlines can pay AWG to allow their employees and customers to access the Internet. “Massport and AWG receive a portion of the revenues from wireless Internet access service, regardless of how a user gains access to the Internet,” the filing states.
Massport, which warns of the threat to passenger safety unless it can control radio transmissions at the airport, has held a series of meetings of its own at the FCC, most recently with Lauren Van Wazer of the Office of Engineering & Technology.