New Hill Tilt No Guarantee of Big Bills—Lobbyists
SAN JOSE -- Democrats controlling Congress will promote unlicensed spectrum use and hold FCC Chmn. Martin’s feet to the fire -- but won’t alter his positions or pass large-scale communications bills, lobbyists said. On a Wed. panel at the Wireless Communications Assn. conference, Hank Hultquist, AT&T assistant vp-emerging services & technologies, handicapped chances for legislation in the 110th Congress.
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Putting odds at 60-40 against universal service reform, Hultquist called major proposals on unlicensed spectrum non- starters and bids to “derail” a 700 MHz auction a “longshot.” The election results make it harder to pass laws authorities want broadening CALEA’s application, he said. This Congress is friendlier than the last to net neutrality, but not enough to pass it, Hultquist said.
Former FCC staff chief Bryan Tramont, now a D.C. lawyer, agreed major telecom legislation isn’t likely this Congress. FCC rulemakings “probably will take the wind out of the sails of pretexting legislation,” and perhaps of federal video franchising bills. But Congress probably will legislate communications privacy, Gerard Salemme, Clearwire exec. vp-policy & external affairs.
The power shift means little regarding universal service reform, which is not the “ultimate red state, blue state issue” it seems to be, Hultquist said. Only a comprehensive revamp could pass, he said, and “it’s a tough year to get anything through.”
On 700 MHz spectrum, Cyren Call’s proposal or some variant is the likeliest vehicle for change, Hultquist said. Democratic presidential hopefuls eager for public-safety support could embrace it, he said, noting concern about Martin’s suggestion of licensed uses in the TV “white space,” he said. But there “could be some tweaking of the DTV transition” including the set-top box subsidy, he said. Democrats will give impetus to unlicensed spectrum use, Salemme said.
Hultquist can’t say flatly that CALEA expansion “won’t pass, because there’s always support for law enforcement” on the Hill, he said. And regardless of what happens short term, the FBI and other supporters of extending the law to new technologies won’t give up, he said.
Cable and telcos can present a united front against net neutrality legislation now that video franchising is off the front congressional burner, Hultquist said. A Senate proposal would go “so far beyond traditional common carrier rules” that it’s hard to accept, he said. Nondiscrimination conditions AT&T accepted to win FCC approval were less of a boon to net neutrality prospects than the election results, he said.
New rules on neutrality would have “really damaging implications” for wireless broadband and other nascent technologies, and it’s important for players like WCA members to speak up against it, Tramont said. More broadly, companies should see that “much of what we do is through government fiat,” Salemme said, and that “this association has great clout and a great ability” to influence “early stages of broadband policy.” Policymakers don’t know how broadband development will play out and “they don’t have a prejudice” among players and technologies, he said. Policy can “really be what we tell them to do,” Salemme said. WCA members also should be mindful of the many contract opportunities in rural broadband and homeland security, he added.
Look for more muscular oversight of FCC, Tramont said. Hearings will be “at times rocky,” he said. “Chairman Martin is very politically savvy, and he'll make sure he has opened lines of communication” to the Hill. But “Martin does have strong views that will not be changed by Congress,” Tramont added. Salemme agreed.