WASHINGTON-A Federal Communications Commission decision last week that is largely favorable to the paging industry has led one local telephone company to threaten to sue.
“Requiring local service providers to provide free facilities to paging companies, in addition to making ongoing payments to those companies, is anticompetitive and anti-consumer. U S West, which filed suit in federal claims court on this issue last year, is considering other legal options in response to today’s ruling,” said the company.
The paging industry was ecstatic about the decision that it says affirms rules dating back to the implementation of the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
“This decision goes a long way toward making sure that the intent of the telecom act-ensuring healthy competition in all segments of the telecommunications industry-is carried out,” said Jay Kitchen, president of the Personal Communications Industry Association.
The FCC decision settled complaints from TSR Wireless Inc. and Metrocall Inc. dating back to late 1997.
TSR Wireless L.L.C. filed a complaint on Dec. 24, 1997, when U S West imposed a “stop provisioning order” because TSR had not made payments that it believed were no longer necessary.
FCC rules say a LEC must stop charging telecom carriers for terminating LEC-originated traffic and must provide that traffic without charge.
Two letters from chiefs of the FCC’s Common Carrier Bureau again said that paging carriers were telecom carriers and entitled to reciprocal compensation and could not be forced to pay for traffic originating on the LEC network.
The second letter was dated shortly after TSR filed its complaint.
In addition to saying LECs could not charge for LEC traffic, the FCC also said LECs could not charge paging carriers for the use of the facilities to carry that traffic and for the use of telephone numbers.
The order also allows paging carriers to agree to pay the wide-area-calling charges to the LEC rather than having the LEC impose these charges on the paging carrier’s customers.
Although U S West has negotiated interconnection agreements with other paging carriers such as AirTouch Paging and Arch Communications, it has not negotiated with TSR or Metrocall.
It is only through arbitration, the LECs said, that the issues can be negotiated. If the parties don’t like the LEC’s offer, they must go to state arbitration.
FCC Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth parted with the FCC 4-1 majority, which said the FCC had jurisdiction and agreed with the LECs.
“Instead of going through negotiation, arbitration and review, parties could sidestep the process by coming, as has TSR, directly to the commission … Whether or not [it] is convenient, it is the plan that Congress adopted and we should not disable that plan by creating a different one that bypasses it entirely,” said Furchtgott-Roth.
In addition to U S West, the decision settles complaints against Pacific Bell Telephone Co., GTE Telephone Operations and Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. Metrocall’s complaint against BellSouth Telecommunications was settled earlier this year.
