WASHINGTON-“The view is better from up here,” commented Bill Kennard as he banged the gavel in his first Federal Communications Commission meeting as chairman Nov. 25.
Kennard and new compatriots Gloria Tristani, Michael Powell and Harold Furchtgott-Roth tackled a number of issues that, while not completely wireless-oriented, will impact the industry in some way in the near future.
For example, the panel adopted a streamlined method of dealing with formal complaints made by business and consumer customers against common carriers. Parties now are encouraged to resolve their differences prior to bringing them to the FCC. If the commission must deal with the matter, both parties must supply both legal and documentary support for their sides, and both sides must deal with discovery matters within the first month of the formal proceeding. The commission seeks to solve most complaints within 90 days, with the most complex taking up to five months; the FCC also reserved the authority to grant interim relief before a final decision is reached.
For wireless carriers that have interconnection disputes pending or are considering filing complaints about interconnection and that may have concerns regarding repercussions, Kennard gave his assurance that the FCC would provide certain protections.
Echoing this, Commissioner Tristani said, “If carriers know they can get away with flaunting the rules, they will. We must show that our policies have teeth, and these rules are a first step. Competition makes enforcement more important.”
In a move aimed at reducing or altogether replacing cumbersome comparative hearings, the commission also voted to forward a proposal to auction certain mutually exclusive analog commercial broadcast and instructional fixed television service licenses that have been pending since 1992. Under consideration now are many of the same auction rules that currently apply to wireless players, including ways to increase the number of women-, small business- and minority-owned stations. Such auctions tentatively are scheduled for fourth quarter 1998; the commission also was set to release tentative dates for other auctions, including one for the lower 800-MHz specialized mobile radio bands, but it was unavailable at press time.
With implementation of the World Telecommunications Organization Basic Telecom Agreement some six weeks away, the panel adopted new rules and policies regarding foreign participation in the U.S. telecom market coupled with market entry and regulation of any foreign-affiliated entities.
The commission’s new order replaces the effective competitive opportunities test (adopted in 1995) in favor of an open-entry standard for WTO member nations. Applications to compete here will take 35 days to process; more complicated applications may take longer but must be addressed in some way within 60 days. WTO carriers will not have to demonstrate that their markets are open to competition, and they will be able to own up to 49 percent of a wireless license without special authorization. The FCC still has safeguards in place in case anticompetitive behavior is detected, and authorizations can be denied in egregious cases. Non-WTO countries still must pass the ECO test.
On the regulatory side of the order, the FCC narrowed its own “no special concessions” rule so that it only prohibits U.S. carriers from entering into agreements with foreign telecom carriers that may have enough market share as to hurt competition in the U.S. market. “To provide more certainty in the market as U.S. carriers negotiate deals with their foreign counterparts, the order adopts a rebuttable presumption that carriers with less than 50 percent market share in the foreign market lack such market power,” it wrote. “Parties may also argue to the commission that a carrier with more than 50 percent market share on the foreign end of a route lacks sufficient market power to harm competition and consumers in the U.S. market, and therefore may engage in such exclusive dealings.”
During the meeting, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau Chief Dan Phythyon updated the commission staff regarding the ongoing 800 MHz SMR auction, saying that as of Round 120, more than $76 million had been promised and 17 players continued to bid.
