WASHINGTON-Key lawmakers are expected soon to ask Federal Communications Commission Chairman Bill Kennard to lift burdensome common carrier regulations off the backs of specialized mobile radio operators, something the agency has the power to do but has not done to the extent desired by the industry.
Lawmakers from telecom and small business committees in the House and Senate, who met directly or through their staffs with American Mobile Telecommunications Association officials and industry representatives last month, will be forwarding a letter to Kennard that is expected to state that Congress never intended a one-size-fits-all approach to commercial wireless policymaking at the FCC. The letter now is circulating on Capitol Hill for signatures.
In a related move, AMTA has petitioned the FCC to enforce migration of radio systems between the 222 MHz and 860 MHz bands to spectral efficient technologies in order to free up spectrum for SMRs.
In 1993 and 1996 legislation, Congress approved competitive, deregulatory models for wireless and wireline telecom carriers respectively.
Alan Shark, president of AMTA, said the FCC has not exercised that right vigorously enough insofar as small- and medium-sized SMRs are concerned. With universal service, number portability and other common carrier obligations kicking in, Shark says many dispatch radio operators are beginning to feel the squeeze.
“We agree that similar services should be regulated similarly. But we’re not a similar service. We do not compete with PCS (personal communications services) or cellular,” said Shark.
Indeed, many of the 1,500 to 2,000 SMRs offer traditional dispatch radio service over a sliver of spectrum to other small businesses.
Most SMRs typically have annual revenue of less than $3 million. “They don’t have megahertz; they have channels,” said Shark.
Nextel Communications Inc., on the other hand, competitively markets dispatch and pocket phone service as the dominant SMR in the United States.
Five years ago, when Congress was crafting regulatory parity legislation for the wireless industry, Nextel was one of a growing number of SMRs clustering single, high-power antenna SMR systems and converting them into wide-area, cellular-like networks.
So-called enhanced SMRs were regulated at that time as private carriers, which were exempt from common carrier requirements and state oversight. Cellular carriers and state regulators protested loudly. Congress grouped SMRs with cellular, paging and PCS carriers under a new, commercial mobile radio service regulatory regime subject to common carrier rules.
Dan Phythyon, chief of the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau at the FCC, said AMTA’s initiative is consistent with the general thrust of the agency’s deregulatory agenda.
“The commission has demonstrated its sensitivity to this,” said Phythyon, pointing to the E911 carve out for small SMRs and the agency’s small business emphasis.
Shark, however, said the FCC has talked more than acted and that is why he turned to Congress. Shark remarked in jest that lackluster regulatory relief given small- and medium-sized SMRS since 1993 has caused some to wonder if there’s not a conspiracy to kill the industry. Shark said he doesn’t buy the conspiracy theory.
“It’s not an organized response; it’s disorganized neglect,” said Shark.
