Verizon Wireless Says Nothing New in Challenges to Buy of Alltel
Verizon Wireless clashed with small carriers in dueling filings at the FCC on various petitions for reconsideration asking the commission to revise its November order approving the buy of Alltel. The Public Interest Spectrum Coalition, Rural Telecommunications Group, Leap Wireless, U.S. Cellular, MetroPCS, NTELOS and Public Service Communications filed separate petitions for reconsideration earlier this month.
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The various petitions merely reiterate arguments that were “previously considered and rejected by the Commission,” Verizon Wireless and the parent company of Alltel said, asking the FCC to reject them. “It is well-established that petitions for reconsideration that do not present new facts or changed circumstances, or that fail to show a material error or omission in the original order, will be dismissed as repetitious.”
But RTG said in its reply that the FCC can at any time entertain any petition for reconsideration identifying any “material error or omission in the original order.” One such error, RTG said, is the order’s failure to treat Alltel’s GSM and CDMA networks the same. “By neglecting to apply merger-specific roaming conditions equally to both the GSM and CDMA networks of ALLTEL (where both networks operate in tandem in the same geographic markets), the Commission is giving de facto preference to one air-interface technology (CDMA) over another (GSM),” RTG said. The FCC “should not be picking the winners and losers in the marketplace for competing air-interface technologies,” the group said.
RTG also argued that the roaming conditions laid out in the merger order differ from those described by commissioners when they voted to approve the transaction. Specifically, the order does not specifically require Verizon Wireless to honor roaming agreements/contracts “in their entirety for a period of four years,” which RTG said commissioners said they had agreed to in the hours leading up to a vote on the merger. “Clearly, any order that contains text that is flatly inconsistent with the understanding of the majority of Commissioners as to what was actually adopted constitutes material error which must be reconsidered,” the association said.
PSC said in a reply that other carriers have built a strong case in the record that the roaming conditions in the transaction do not ensure fair and reasonable roaming rates following the merger. “PSC must reinforce the fact that the proposed merger will take away the primary source of competitive roaming rates, and destroy any incentive for Verizon Wireless to keep its rates competitive,” the carrier said. “Moreover, there is a critical need for rural carriers to have access to 3G data roaming, or their rural customers will suffer.”