WASHINGTON-Wireless resellers have interconnection rights that have been ignored by carriers and federal regulators said an industry coalition, including surprise MCI Communications Corp. suitor WorldCom Inc., in a brief filed in federal appeals court.
The Federal Communications Commission “has inexplicably refused to acknowledge the right of a cellular reseller, as a common carrier, to request interconnection from a cellular carrier and to obtain that interconnection if the request is reasonable,” stated the National Wireless Resellers Association, Cellular Service Inc. and Comtech Inc.
CSI and ComTech, cellular resellers in California, have 25,000 and 36,000 subscribers, respectively. ComTech recently was acquired by Jackson, Miss.-based WorldCom, the distant fourth-largest long-distance carrier that would become No. 2 behind AT&T Corp. if its proposed merger with MCI pans out.
Wireless resale will be a major issue for the newly constituted FCC, which will likely be headed by William Kennard, currently general counsel of the agency.
At present, there are appeals on wireless interconnection and wireless resale policies pending before the District of Columbia Circuit and a federal appeals court in Cincinnati, respectively.
The outgoing FCC, which overwhelmingly has favored powerful wireless carriers over less potent resellers in crafting policy, has been slow to address wireless resellers’ concerns.
The FCC has yet to rule on challenges filed more than a year ago against the wireless resale sunset rule and has not acted on two complaints filed nearly three years ago seeking affirmation of their interconnection rights.
“The FCC’s frozen posture with respect to particular complaints underscores the arbitrary nature of the FCC’s refusal to adopt rules to govern interconnection rights for cellular and other CMRS (commercial mobile radio service) providers,” the resellers told the court.
FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Chief Dan Phythyon declined to comment on regulatory delays in addressing wireless resale issues.
The sunset rule terminates mandatory resale obligations by wireless carriers five years after the last personal communications service license has been granted. The FCC’s rationale for the market-driven policy is that increased competition, accompanied by the infusion of more spectrum, negates the need for mandatory resale.
But additional competition anticipated by federal regulators has not, and possibly may not, materialize uniformly throughout the United States in the mobile phone business.
Some markets have lived up to expectations as new PCS players, many of whom collectively dominate the cellular industry, and Nextel Communications Inc. introduce alternative mobile phone service choices for consumers heretofore limited to only two cellular operators.
But what competition that does come about could end up being limited to populous metropolitan markets. Large startup PCS firms like NextWave Telecom Inc., Pocket Communications Inc. and General Wireless Inc.-which were expected to compete against AT&T Corp., Sprint Corp., GTE Corp. and the Baby Bells on a large scale for a share of local and long-distance mobile phone markets-are financially troubled.
If wireless resellers are having problems securing conventional and switched resale agreements with dominant cellular carriers, chances are good that resellers will meet similar obstacles with leading PCS operators, because many of them are the same companies.
Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), chairman of the House Commerce subcommittee on oversight and investigations, was unsuccessful in pushing through strong wireless resale legislation several years ago. However, Barton has said he would consider pressing for a legislative fix if facilities-based wireless does not blossom.
