The FCC approved GCI’s acquisition of Alaska DigiTel despite charges by competitors MTA Wireless and ACS Wireless that the deal could hurt wireless competition in the state. MTA and ACS had been interested in 20 MHz of spectrum that they contend GCI has warehoused, so they could offer statewide service, sources said. MTA and ACS are considering appealing or asking the Commission to reconsider the order.
Chmn. Martin will circulate a long-awaited order on customer proprietary network information (CPNI) among fellow commissioners. It’s unclear whether, as carriers fear, the FCC will propose mandatory passwords to access CPNI data. Meanwhile, consumer privacy is heating up on the Hill, where House Democrats plan to upon reconvening to resurrect a Commerce Committee version of a pretexting bill Republican leaders buried last year.
With AT&T-BellSouth merger talks starting anew, the focus is now on the future of special access and whether the FCC will approach it by mandating baseball-style arbitration or a broader rulemaking. Sources said Thurs. it’s unclear how far talks advanced, if at all, since Comr. McDowell declined to participate in the review (CD Dec 20 p1). With key staff and commissioners off next week, scant progress is expected.
T-Mobile and Sprint Nextel, the major wireless carriers not affiliated with Bells, asked the FCC to rule that LECs can’t impose what they call unnecessary impediments to porting numbers. The carriers asked the FCC to declare that carriers may not demand “information from requesting providers beyond that required to validate the customer request and accomplish the port.” The FCC needn’t impose more rules, they said, but must make clear it will enforce current rules.
The FCC voted Wed. to seek comment on bids to provide public safety with wireless broadband at 700 MHz, including a proposal to use 12 MHz of 24 MHz set aside for public safety after the DTV transition to launch a national safety broadband network and related issues.
Talks continue on the AT&T-BellSouth merger, but chances are slim for a 2006 approval, with commissioners leaving for the holidays, Chmn. Martin said Wed. “I still think it could get done early next year,” Martin said, acknowledging he has no magic answers for concluding the talks successfully.
NPSTC generally backed a proposal to give public safety 30 MHz of 700-Mhz band spectrum for a nationwide interoperable public safety broadband network. In a filing at the FCC, the group didn’t specifically endorse Cyren Call’s proposal, but that’s the only one calling for creation of a 30 MHz public safety broadband trust, a source said. “It is endorsing the public safety broadband concept that Cyren Call has proposed,” the source said: “You can’t talk about this without talking about Cyren Call’s proposal.” NPSTC (National Public Safety Telecom Council) decided at a recent N.Y. meeting to support reallocating the spectrum, joining other safety bodies backing an allocation of more 700-MHz spectrum after the DTV shift. “The nation has a unique opportunity to take advantage of the clearance of a nationwide block of 30 MHz of contiguous frequencies in the 700-MHz spectrum band that is adjacent to spectrum currently allocated to public safety and that would be ideal for the creation of a broadband nationwide network,” NPSTC said. In an unrelated matter, NPSTC backed alternate recommendations to the common interoperability radio channel naming scheme developed by the FCC, subject of a Feb. meeting in Fla. hosted by NPSTC. “Lack of a common naming standard and the lack of immediate communications capability is a significant impediment to public safety’s ability to respond to multi- agency incidents, and that a common nomenclature will make a tangible difference in public safety interoperability,” the group said.
The FCC should change its stance and declare that when TV “white spaces” are available, they will be offered for purely unlicensed use and not sold in a Commission spectrum auction, the Media Access Project, New America Foundation and allies said. The Champaign Urbana Wireless Network also joined a petition for reconsideration filed at the FCC.
CenturyTel said Mon. it agreed to acquire Madison River Communications in a deal valued at $830 million. Glen Post, CEO of CenturyTel, said on a conference call that regulatory issues, including uncertainty over USF and intercarrier compensation reform, figured in the company’s evaluation of the merger, but there’s little risk of Madison River’s revenue dropping because of rule changes. “Nothing major has changed in the regulatory arena,” Post said in response to an analyst’s question: “We still believe that we'll see progress in the next 18 months to eliminate some of the regulatory uncertainty.”
Comr. Copps said Fri. negotiations should continue on the AT&T-BellSouth merger with or without participation by Comr. McDowell, who’s deciding whether he can vote on the merger. “I have never said that the merger discussions were at an impasse,” Copps said as he left a Practising Law Institute event.