Martin Comments Push White Spaces, Termination Fees to Top of FCC Agenda
Comments by FCC Chairman Kevin Martin on two issues - probable creation of a commission panel on early termination fees and opening the TV white spaces to use by portable devices - have prompted a flurry of activity at the agency. Various players are eager to set up meetings to drive home their well-developed positions. Martin dropped a few hints Tuesday during a brief session with reporters in the commission meeting room.
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On the white spaces fight, Martin indicated he hoped to move an item forward “quickly,” possibly at the still-to-be- scheduled October agenda meeting (CD Sept 12 p6). He also said the Office of Engineering and Technology will do more tests of devices designed to operate in the white spaces if asked. It’s unclear whether OET plans more tests, sources said. Several sources said the office would have difficulty running tests, analyzing the data and submitting a report by next month.
The white spaces order was already the subject of intense lobbying, on Capitol Hill and at the FCC, in a fight that pits broadcasters against high-tech heavyweights such as Microsoft. NAB, the Association for Maximum Service TV and other groups this week launched a series of TV ads in the Washington area against opening the white spaces. The broadcaster-led coalition also held meetings with all five commissioners this week, according to ex parte letters filed at the agency. “As we documented even if the devices operate as advertised they would still cause interference to TV reception,” said David Donovan, president of MSTV, who questioned the value of further testing.
Martin also indicated the FCC will likely hold some kind of panel or hearing on early termination fees. In a slight twist, he noted that wireline phone companies and cable operators also impose these fees. In 2005, CTIA asked the FCC to confirm that termination fees in wireless carriers’ service contracts represent “rates charged” for CMRS, meaning they aren’t subject to state regulation under section 332 of the Communications Act. Wireless carriers have asked the FCC to decide that ETFs are part of the rate structure and so subject to federal rather than state control. But they're wary of the kind of hearing proposed by Martin.
A wireless industry source said wireless carriers and businesses in other industries, from banks to rental car companies, have a good reason for putting early-termination fees in their contracts with customers. “The reality is some form of ETF goes across the economy,” the source said. “It’s a mechanism that companies use to hold consumers to the contract bargain.” Without the fees, companies would find some contract terms almost impossible to enforce, the source said.