WASHINGTON-The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association last week asked the Federal Communications Commission to delay until November implementing rules regarding how commercial mobile radio services carriers use information about their customers.
If the FCC does not choose to stay the rules, set to go in effect later this month, CTIA may go to Congress to seek relief, according to Tim Ayers, CTIA’s vice president of communications.
CTIA staff has discussed the issue with congressional staffers, who agree the FCC rules are illogical, Ayers said. Congressional action might not be necessary because “our preliminary reading is that the FCC understands the problems that have been created … people are taking a second look” at the rules, Ayers said.
The rules govern the use of so-called customer proprietary network information, or CPNI, which is the information telecommunications carriers collect about their customers, including name, address, billing and when and where calls are placed. The rules implement Section 222 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which required the FCC to develop rules to protect the privacy of telecom customers in a competitive environment. The rules were released by the FCC Feb. 26 but did not appear in the Federal Register until April 24.
CTIA claimed in its filing the FCC went beyond the intent of Congress when it required CMRS carriers to live by the same rules as wireline carriers. CMRS carriers have never had restrictions on the use of CPNI. There always have been some restrictions, although not as stringent as the new rules, on wireline carriers’ use of CPNI. “This kind of `It works for monopoly [local exchange carriers] LECs, so let’s apply it to everybody’ regulatory philosophy stifles the very competition the FCC says it wants to promote,” CTIA President Tom Wheeler said in a statement announcing the filing.
The rules separate equipment from services-a common distinction in the wireline arena but not possible in the wireless world, CTIA said. Landline telephones are designed so any LEC can offer service to that telephone. CMRS equipment, by contrast, is programmed to identify a specific carrier/customer relationship.
Separating CMRS equipment from the carrier/customer relationship was not supported by anyone during the comment cycle on the notice of proposed rulemaking, according to CTIA. “There is no evidence to support the order’s conclusion that mobile handsets … were outside the CMRS carrier-customer `relationship’,” CTIA said.
The rules weaken FCC attempts to promote the deployment of spectrum-efficient digital technology by restricting the offering of digital equipment, features and services, according to CTIA. The rule prohibits cellular carriers from looking at customer records in order to offer digital handsets to their best analog customers. Similarly, CPNI rules prohibit personal communications services carriers from using their subscriber list to offer their best customers dual-band, dual-mode phones.
