WASHINGTON-Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) has pledged to continue fighting for expanded wireless resale, saying his position on the issue has been reinforced over the past year despite lack of support from his own party.
“I’m more convinced today than I was the first time you people came to see me that you’re totally right,” said Barton at the National Wireless Resellers Association’s annual meeting here last week.
“Unfortunately in Washington,” he added, “you can be totally right and still not win.”
Barton, alluding to the fierce reseller battle with giant mobile telephone carriers like AT&T Corp., Sprint Corp. and the Baby Bells, hinted it might have been a mistake to have withdrawn his wireless resale amendment during markup of telecommunications reform legislation after key committee members said they would vote against him. Yet, at the same time, he conceded there was not enough support to carry the wireless resale measure.
Mobile telephone carriers argue that in an increasingly competitive environment where firms have paid hundreds of millions of dollars to buy licenses and build networks, it is unfair to allow resellers who’ve risked little capital to have open access to their wireless systems.
Barton, a ranking member of the House Commerce Committee and chairman of the oversight and investigations subcommittee, said he plans to pursue wireless resale liberalization next year in technical amendments to the Telecommunications Act of 1996 that President Clinton signed into law Feb. 8.
“Your industry is right on the issue, totally, 100 percent,” said Barton, whose folksy, easy-going demeanor is matched only by his tenacity and cagey political skill. “I’ve heard nothing in the year and a half since I’ve become engaged on the issue that indicates anything other than that.”
Barton said that when he went up against wireless telephone carriers he didn’t realize he was taking on powerful telecommunications interests with hefty political clout.
“Little did I know it was almost the equivalent of declaring thermonuclear war on some of the biggest players,” cracked Barton.
Despite the fireworks that erupted when Barton tried to get a wireless resale provision inserted into telecommunications reform legislation, resellers and carriers actually came close to agreeing on an amendment. But resellers balked at the carriers’ insistence that restrictions be imposed on who resellers could sell out to.
Barton withdrew his wireless resale amendment twice, once during House telecommunications committee markup of the bill and again during full committee markup after House Commerce Committee Chairman Thomas Bliley (R-Va.) and telecommunications subcommittee head Jack Fields (R-Texas) suggested that wireless carriers and resellers iron out differences.
“Had I handled it a little bit differently I think we would have gotten an agreement,” said Barton.
Despite his rallying cry, it is unclear whether wireless resellers will fare any better next year. They are still up against powerful lobbying forces of the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association and the Personal Communications Industry Association, and their call for switched resale and unbundled interconnection does not appear to have support at the Federal Communications Commission.
The issue is likely to be settled in a marketplace that has lots more spectrum for wireless telephone. Increased competitive pressure is apt to force new personal communications services operators to seriously consider resale in their marketing mix.
MCI Communications Corp., one of the few major telecom firms to forgo spectrum auctions, has started to capitalize on paging and cellular resale and has indicated an interest in expanding into PCS.
