WASHINGTON-The 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied the cell phone industry’s request to the full court to rehear the repeal of a Federal Communications Commission decision pre-empting state regulation of line items on mobile phone bills, putting in play a possible Supreme Court challenge next year.
The 11 th Circuit previously turned down the FCC petition to have the three-judge panel reconsider its July 31 decision. However, the panel did clarify their opinion by specifically vacating the wireless pre-emption portion of the FCC decision and remanding the agency’s truth-in-billing order to the commission. The National Association of State Utility Consumer Advocates and the Vermont Public Service Board appealed the FCC’s truth-in-billing ruling in 2005.
Congress this year failed to pass a telecom reform bill that would have repealed state jurisdiction of terms and conditions of mobile-phone service. Democrats, who took back the House and Senate in midterm elections, are expected to scrap GOP-crafted telecom legislation and draft their own bill next year. Expanding federal pre-emption is the mobile phone industry’s top policy priority.
