WASHINGTON-Enforcement of government rules, including telecommunications rules, should be efficient and fair and have the consent of the governed, said FCC Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth.
Furchtgott-Roth was the keynote speaker at the Practicing Law Institute conference on “Working With the FCC in the New Millennium: Regulation to Enforcement.”
Enforcement of rules has taken a more central role since the creation of the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau one-and-a-half years ago. Enforcement is important to the development and success of competition, said David H. Solomon, chief of the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau, later in the PLI conference.
“This goes to the heart of what consumers care about. This goes to the heart of what companies should care about, because if competition is to work, consumers must have confidence in it,” said Solomon.
Enforcement is likely to continue to grow in stature at the commission. FCC Chairman Michael K. Powell has been a proponent of the FCC being an enforcer of existing rules rather than a creator of new rules.
“We need a greater emphasis on enforcement, rather than “by the grace of us” regulation, said Powell late last year prior to being designated chairman.
This agency role may run head on into Powell’s stated desire to reform the agency because, Solomon said, it is often difficult to predict what the enforcement bureau will be dealing with at any given time.
“I cannot predict some of the complaints people are going to file. We are constantly juggling our resources” based on what comes in, said Solomon.
Enforcing rules may and probably should lead to the elimination of rules on the FCC’s books, said Furchtgott-Roth. “Rules that are not enforced or not enforced consistently should be dropped,” he said.
Furchtgott-Roth pointed out that cellular-only rules should-and he said probably will-be eliminated. He did not further specify which of these rules, many of which are technical in nature, should be eliminated.
Another wireless issue that will be increasingly enforced is compliance with the enhanced 911 rules, said Solomon.
While Furchtgott-Roth seemed generally pleased with the FCC’s enforcement activities, one issue that has caught his attention and his recent wrath is the lack of a final decision in the Airadigm bankruptcy case.
Airadigm, a C-block personal communications services carrier that has turned on service to customers, filed for bankruptcy in 1999 rather than make a timely installment payment to the government. While the FCC has taken a hard-line approach against bankrupt NextWave Telecom Inc., it has held in abeyance the status of Airadigm’s licenses.
Furchtgott-Roth voiced in another setting last week that he believes the reason for the lack of a decision in the Airadigm case is due to a litigation strategy in the NextWave case, which is set for oral argument on March 15.
“I think the commission should handle items in an expeditious manner. I don’t think the procedural rights of one party should be held up due to some litigation strategy of a third party. It doesn’t make sense. It should be thumbs up or thumbs down for Airadigm. This kind of perpetual indecision and in this case perpetual strategic indecision, I just find to be very troubling. It is not government at its best,” said Furchtgott-Roth.
