Solicitor General Paul Clement recommended against Supreme Court review of a key appeals court decision that dealt wireless carriers a major defeat in their fight for uniform federal regulation. Clement said the 11th Circuit’s August 2006 decision (CD Aug 2/06 p1) in a truth in billing case was in error but the high court doesn’t need to step in. The court usually gives considerably weight to solicitor generals’ opinions when deciding whether to hear a case.
FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell said relations remain “cordial” at the FCC even if this has been a contentious year at the agency. Speaking to reporters Thursday, McDowell said building blocks remain in place for a “healthy independent administrative agency” and he sees no need for “major reconstructive surgery” to reform the agency. McDowell also said FCC action is imminent on two DTV rulemakings.
Sprint Nextel accused other 800 MHz licensees of trying to gain advantage through band plan changes ostensibly fixing 800 MHz rebanding issues at the U.S.-Canada border. Sprint told the FCC that licensees moved must receive comparable, not better, spectrum. Public safety groups, meanwhile, warned of delays and questioned Sprint’s earlier claim that more agreements must be negotiated between the U.S. and Canada to complete the rebanding.
CTIA President Steve Largent wrote members of the Senate to dispute the need for the Wireless 411 Privacy Act (S- 2454), which would protect wireless subscribers against listing of their cellular phone numbers in a national directory without their consent. “While it is true that the wireless industry once created a joint venture to explore an opt-in wireless directory, that effort was conceived of as a directory assistance service and not as a published directory or publicly available database,” Largent wrote. He added that after a joint venture was launched to create a directory in 2004, CTIA quit the effort. “Recently, the carriers decided to abandon their joint venture, so it is fair to state that neither CTIA nor its members are compiling a wireless directory.” Largent said carriers and CTIA “take very seriously the obligation to guard consumers’ privacy” and wireless subscribers don’t seem to want a national directory. Last week, Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, introduced the bill. “This bill is good news for consumers because people should have the right to decide who has access to their wireless phone number,” Boxer said. “Without the protections provided in this bill, the cell phone numbers of countless Americans could be at risk.”
The FCC put off a vote on the previously delayed CMRS competition report. The FCC also approved a rulemaking notice aimed at resolving a dispute between broadband wireless companies and XM and Sirius over the 2.3 GHz band. The notice, not yet released, mostly seeks comment and offers a single, noncontroversial “tentative conclusion.” The two items were deleted from the FCC agenda for a meeting Tuesday that focused on relaxation of media-ownership rules.
Wireless carriers are at odds on rules for the 2155 to 2175 MHz band, the spectrum sought by M2Z and other potential competitors and expected to be offered for sale in a proposed AWS 3 auction. Sprint Nextel urged the FCC to auction the spectrum without attaching major strings. But T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless said it’s paramount to protect from harmful interference carriers occupying advanced wireless service (AWS) spectrum auctioned last year.
The FCC will consider whether to require that carriers refusing to give customers emergency alert system warnings post warnings to that effect in their stores and on their sites, said a notice of proposed rulemaking released late Friday. The FCC may set tougher rules than the Commercial Mobile Service Alert Advisory Committee recommended in other areas as well, the document indicated.
Sprint Nextel has entered a new phase in its fight with AT&T over whether the Bell is living up to a promise to extend interconnection agreements made in last year’s AT&T- BellSouth merger agreement. After battling AT&T in the old BellSouth states, Sprint is making filings in legacy SBC states. Sprint may file a complaint to the FCC, we're told.
Philips Electronics North America and Microsoft have given the FCC revised versions of prototype devices designed to operate in the broadcast white spaces. Philips submitted two devices, according to a filing at the FCC. The devices are essentially the same as those tested earlier at the commission lab in Columbia, Md., with software tweaks to improve their operation. Testing is expected to start anew in January. It’s unclear when an order will appear. High tech companies planning to make the devices, if approved, can’t sell them until after the 2009 DTV transition.
The Wireless Communications Association wants the FCC to tighten power limits Globalstar operates under in the 2496- 2500 MHz band. The new limits would mirror those imposed by the recently-concluded World Radiocommunication Conference on mobile satellite services in the adjacent 2500 MHz band.