Martin Says Roaming Inquiry Alive Despite Small Carrier Concerns
ORLANDO -- FCC Chmn. Martin said Tues. he’s “sympathetic” to complaints by small carriers seeking mandates for “automatic” roaming. Martin also said he hopes the FCC will release rules for the 700 MHz auction in time to give small and mid-sized carriers the 6 months they want between the rules’ release and the auction. He called release of auction rules the FCC’s top priority. Martin also said the FCC should decide on regulation of early termination fees (ETFs) by year-end.
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“I don’t think that it’s dead at all,” Martin said of a proposal, advanced by smaller carriers, to require automatic roaming. Martin said before he became chairman there was a discussion about eliminating roaming requirements. “I was concerned about that and the impact that could end up having in rural carriers,” he said: “That issue has not gone away… Now what you have is the rural carriers saying… they want to change the roaming rules to make it an automatic roaming situation… I actually am sympathetic to a lot of the rural carriers on this issue.”
Martin, who spoke to the CTIA here in a keynote interview with Pres. Steve Largent, later met with reporters to discuss wireless issues. Martin said release of rules for the 700 MHz auction “has got to be the most important priority for the Commission.” Not all issues before the Commission related to the auction need be decided immediately, and decisions about the public safety band could come after the auction of commercial spectrum begins, he said.
“There may be some public safety issue, within just the public safety bands, that may or may not have to be decided before the auction commences,” Martin said: “The guard band issues it may be helpful for us to decide.” Tough issues remain, he said: “We just got in a proposal from a group called Frontline a couple of weeks ago, in which they're proposing that a whole different set of service rules should be applied to one piece of the spectrum. There’s some complex policy issues that the Commission needs to work through.”
CTIA has pressed the FCC to clarify that ETFs are part of a carrier’s rates or rate structure and subject to federal, not state review. Carriers insist the issue is key to their financial stability. “I've met with both the industry representatives and consumer groups about it recently… in trying to see if there isn’t some kind of compromise that everyone can wind up supporting,” Martin said: “We'll be anxious to see whether there’s any kind of progress. At bottom, there are issues that the Commission will have to address. There are several petitions in front of us.”
Martin is “optimistic” consumer groups and carriers can come to terms, he said. “The Commission will address it this year, address the pending petitions one way or another,” he said: “I had gotten together [with] and encouraged both sides to talk through some of the issues and I think that they'll be doing that and they have been.”
“I would prefer to see private industry work this out on their own. We've had one large carrier make progress in that arena,” Comr. McDowell said of ETFs: “Should there not be further resolution… I'll be anxious to hear what the chairman has to propose.” McDowell told us he still was reviewing the record on the need for roaming rules. “I would like to see more evidence in the record first,” he said: “You hear anecdotally there are some issues… It’s a little bit of a sleeper issue.”
Comr. Adelstein hopes the FCC moves quickly on roaming, he told us: “I'm concerned that while there’s good, vigorous competition on the retail side we're seeing evidence of less competition on the wholesale side, partly because [wireless] is bifurcated into 2 standards. Roaming partners don’t have the opportunity to roam with any of the nationwide carriers but only those that have a compatible system… We really need to explore what the ramifications of that are.” Adelstein is awaiting an order on ETFs, he said. “We're waiting to see what kind of guidance we get from the Bureau on that.”
McDowell and Adelstein agreed during a panel discussion Congress should change sunshine rules that apply to the FCC to lift curbs on members privately discussing matters. “It slows down the decisionmaking process. It breaks down the sense of collegiality,” McDowell said: “It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.” “I agree,” Adelstein said: “Staff talks to each other, then they talk to us, then they go back and talk to each other. It’s just very cumbersome.” Both spoke of deadlines. McDowell hopes to see the 700 MHz auction start by Halloween, he said. Asked if intercarrier compensation reform order is possible by Christmas, Adelstein quipped that Chanukah is more appropriate “since there are 8 different versions” circulating in the telecom industry.