Tribes Say More Data Needed on Cellphones on Indian Lands
The FCC must get better at collecting data on cellphone use on tribal lands, the National Tribal Telecommunications Association (NTTA) said in a filing. In February, the Wireless Bureau sought comment on the annual CMRS competition report. NTTA said the FCC doesn’t do enough to promote competition on tribal lands. The latest CMRS Market Report refers only once to wireless services on tribal lands -- a quote from CTIA, the group said.
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“The Commission’s past reports, including the report at issue in this proceeding, have specified very little, if any, data particular to communications services on tribal lands,” the NTTA said. The latest report has no data on the number of wireless subscribers on tribal lands or the average strength of wireless signals accessible there, the group said.
NTTA wants the FCC to compile data based on tribal census tracts. “By using this specific geographic area, the Bureau could much more accurately determine the number of wireless providers serving on tribal lands as well as the strength of signal or other technical detail,” the group said.
In other filings, CTIA said wireless competition is flourishing in general, urging the FCC to dismiss petitions cluttering the regulatory landscape, such as Vuze and Free Press petitions urging network management regulation and the Skype petition seeking to impose Carterfone-type regulations on CMRS carriers. CTIA also said the FCC generally should back away from Net neutrality rules and make more spectrum available where possible.
“The success of the CMRS marketplace is due in part to the FCC’s winning approach of free and open auctions, flexible license rules and deregulation,” CTIA said. “The Commission’s light regulatory touch of allowing licensees to manage the efficiency of their networks and to maximize technology and service advances has produced a wireless market that is the envy of markets worldwide.”
Sprint Nextel, meanwhile, said the FCC should scrutinize intermodal competition. “Intermodal competition will never be effective so long as incumbent LECs -- AT&T and Verizon in particular, which collectively control approximately 70 percent of this nation’s access lines -- are permitted to charge monopoly prices for the critical inputs wireless carriers need to compete with the incumbents,” Sprint said.
The Satellite Industry Association said the FCC was right to seek general comment on provision of CMRS by mobile satellite service (MSS) carriers. “Satellites, including MSS satellites, are a vital component of the nation’s communications marketplace,” SIA said. “Given their extensive coverage areas, satellites are also particularly effective in providing mobile wideband and narrowband communications to the most rural and remote areas of the nation’s land mass.”