WASHINGTON-The Federal Communications Commission is drafting a proposal that would give states more authority over the thorny issue of how carriers compensate each other to carry one another’s traffic.
Giving that authority to states is an anathema to the wireless industry, which believes it only needs to answer to the federal government on interconnection issues between commercial mobile radio service carriers and local exchange carriers.
“Delegating ultimate decision-making authority with respect to LEC-CMRS interconnection and bill and keep would amount to a dereliction of duty by the commission. … The FCC has the sole authority to establish the terms of and to review LEC-CMRS interconnection agreements,” said Michael F. Altschul, CTIA vice president and general counsel.
“We have no interest in allowing the states to have more control and think this would be counter to the wireless industry’s interests,” said Rob Hoggarth, senior vice president of government relations for the Personal Communications Industry Association.
The FCC had been widely expected to adopt the proposed rules on a compensation mechanism before the end of 2000, but when the item was not released, telecom insiders expected the issue to be the “marquee” item at this week’s open meeting. However, the item is not on the commission’s agenda. Instead, the FCC will consider a notice of inquiry on compensation to determine whether the current interconnection regime can be effectively reformed or whether new regimes can address growing problems in the competitive telecom market.
State regulatory agencies have been wanting more say on interconnection issues, including issues that affect the wireless industry.
It is not clear at what point states’ concerns were written into the FCC’s draft. One scenario suggests that Kathryn Brown, FCC chief of staff and former staff member to the New York Public Service Commission, intervened in the process to have the states be given authority. This intervention seems to have delayed the final vote on the item.
“Reciprocal compensation is an internal pending matter and no decisions have been made,” said Linda Paris, acting director of the FCC’s Office of Media Relations, who responded at Brown’s request.
The proposed rules now are expected to be debated internally rather than at a public meeting and released sometime before Jan. 19, when FCC Chairman William Kennard will lose the chairmanship with the incoming Bush administration.
CTIA unveiled the FCC’s plans to give the states authority over interconnection in the widely released letter from Altschul to Kennard.
“Delegating CMRS interconnection issues to the states would be a serious misstep in the commission’s regulation of CMRS and its regulation of carrier interconnection relationships. At issue in this matter is the fundamental question of the commission’s jurisdiction-its jurisdiction over CMRS providers in general and LEC-CMRS interconnection specifically-and its decision to abandon its regulatory responsibilities and delegate them to the various states,” said Altschul in the letter.
“Our consistent position is that if it is interconnection, it should be left to the states. The suggestion in the CTIA letter that leaving it to states is somewhat illegal just does not hold water,” said James Bradford Ramsay, general counsel to the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.
Some believe that moving to a bill-and-keep mechanism would automatically give states more power since states still arbitrate interconnection agreements when parties cannot come to terms on their own.
Also on the agenda for this week’s meeting, the FCC is expected to consider whether cable TV operators will be required to carry the digital signals of TV broadcasters. If the FCC votes the signals must be carried, many wireless experts believe it will be easier for TV broadcasters to give back their analog spectrum, which will open up spectrum for the wireless industry.
The FCC is scheduled to begin auctioning off the analog signals-TV channels 60-69-on March 6.
Today broadcasters do not have to vacate their analog spectrum until 2007, or when 85 percent of the homes in their viewing area are capable of receiving digital signals. Requiring cable operators to carry the digital signals would increase the number of digital-capable homes.
Finally, the FCC is also slated to issue some rules and propose more rules dealing with technical and operation standards for public-safety use of the 60-69 spectrum once the broadcasters return it.
