Announcements by Verizon Wireless and AT&T that they're prorating early termination fees (ETFs) likely will drive debate as Congress examines legislation and the FCC considers an en banc hearing on penalties charged customers leaving a carrier before theirs contracts end. Meanwhile, Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., introduced an industry-friendly bill that would require uniform, national rules for wireless.
Sprint Nextel asked the FCC to reject petitions for reconsideration by two groups of 800 MHz licensees, the Boston Group and the Washoe Group, that want reimbursement under the 800 rebanding order for post-mediation litigation costs. “The Commission lacks statutory authority to require Sprint Nextel to cover these litigation costs,” Sprint said: “This policy is also consistent with the Commission’s key early orders in this proceeding, and had greatly benefitted 800 MHz reconfiguration by encouraging the resolution of disputes through mediation and limiting the amount of de novo review at the Commission.” Sprint’s response was “expected and unfortunate,” said Alan Tilles, an attorney in the case. “The concept that a licensee, who has won at the FCC’s bureau level, should now have to pay for the huge expense of the administrative hearing which Nextel requested, is absurd and offensive,” Tilles told us. “This is nothing more than a hammer hanging over a licensee’s head, that if they don’t bend to Nextel’s wishes, the licensee will incur huge non-reimbursable costs. That is not the deal that this office negotiated with Nextel, the deal which became the consensus plan.” “As we said in our filing, the FCC’s approach to post- mitigation costs is both consistent with regulatory statutes and working well -- less than five percent of all mediations have been appealed to the Bureau and most of those have been settled by the parties,” a Sprint spokesman said Thursday.
Verizon Wireless clashed Wednesday with consumer advocates at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on wireless industry consumer practices. Committee members disagreed other sharply, mostly along party lines. Democratic members largely agreed on the need for legislation like that proposed by Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Jay Rockefeller, D- W.Va., to protect consumers.
The Telecommunications Industry Association and the Consumer Electronics Association warned that “spectrum etiquette” rules proposed for the 902 to 928 MHz band could stifle innovation and would be bad for the other major unlicensed bands, as well as the future of wireless broadband. But the American Petroleum Institute, the Utilities Telecom Council and the Association of American Railroads warned that taking no steps would pose risks to the band and the hundreds of millions of devices that use it every day.
The League of American Theatres and Producers is the latest group to join a coalition opposing opening the TV white spaces to unlicensed use, including wireless broadband. As major sports leagues and some religious groups do, the groups fear disruption to wireless microphones already using the band.
Neutral Tandem seems headed for a victory at the FCC in a long fight with Verizon Wireless over whether the carrier should have to provide direct connection to its network. An order dealing with a Neutral Tandem petition sent the FCC last year (CD Aug 28/06 p4) has been circulated by Chairman Kevin Martin, possibly for a vote at the Oct. 31 agenda meeting.
To see how to use TV white spaces for rural broadband the FCC need look no further than Canada, the Association for Maximum Service Television told FCC officials in a meeting last week. MSTV discussed the Canadian example, submitting a copy of March regulations released by Industry Canada opening channels 21 to 51 for licensed use. Canada imposed several controls to protect TV broadcasts. For example, broadband isn’t available near major cities or broadcast facilities. “They have moved forward and issued rules and licensing procedures for a licensed, fixed broadband service to serve rural areas,” MSTV President David Donovan told us. “We have said you can move forward with fixed broadband services. Canada is a classic example of using the white spaces for that.” MSTV is pushing hard at the FCC and on Capitol Hill, opposing major high-tech companies and their demands that the spectrum be made available for use by unlicensed portable devices. The FCC will do a second round of testing of devices designed to operate in the band but avoid causing harmful interference by sensing whether spectrum already is in use. Donovan hopes U.S. officials will draw a valuable lesson. “Everyone talks about facilitating rural broadband,” he said. “This service is being rolled out as a licensed service in Canada, while we're still holding our rural broadband service up in order to see if sensing works.”
FCC Commissioner Robert McDowell remains the swing vote as he and colleagues debate whether to revise special access pricing rules. McDowell hasn’t made a decision and is still examining the need for revised rules, it was learned.
FCC Chairman Kevin Martin fielded tough questions in a Wednesday exchange with members of the House Small Business Committee. The hearing addressed the designated entity (DE) rules for the 700 MHz auction, open access requirements for the massive 22 MHz C block licenses and agency efforts to make sure small companies succeed in the January auction. Sources said Martin may propose weakening the DE rules, but nothing has circulated.
Chairman Kevin Martin isn’t certain when he will set a vote on a much-watched order on use of the TV white spaces and whether the FCC will permit unlicensed, portable devices in the band, he said Wednesday. Late Friday, the Office of Engineering and Technology said it will run more tests of devices designed to use the spectrum to offer wireless broadband without causing harmful interference to TV signals.