WASHINGTON-Senate Commerce Committee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.), turning the tables on the Clinton administration, has accused the Democratic-controlled Federal Communications Commission of running a do-nothing wireless bureau.
McCain, angered specifically by the three years it took to sort out licensing issues connected with a dispatch radio application mill scandal and generally by the backlog of proceedings in the Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, demanded and has received from the FCC a compilation of all matters pending for one year or longer.
“It is inconceivable to me that the commission would leave this matter unresolved for this long while innocent consumers who have been defrauded of nearly $30 million have been forced to wait anxiously for an FCC order that would allow them to recoup at least some of their investments,” McCain stated in a June 24 letter to FCC Chairman Bill Kennard.
The White House, trying to help Democrats regain control of the House this fall, has attacked the “do-nothing Congress” as of late.
The FCC was expected late last week to complete unfinished work on the Goodman/Chan specialized mobile radio case cited by McCain and forward it for Federal Register publication.
Kennard, while acknowledging the “unacceptable delay” associated with the Goodman/Chan case and “that a substantial amount of bureau work needs to be accomplished,” pointed out in a July 9 reply to McCain that since fiscal 1995 the bureau has processed nearly 1.5 million wireless actions.
Kennard said the agency also is taking steps to reduce regulatory delay by automating licensing.
The tongue-lashing by McCain adds to the wireless industry’s own growing disenchantment with the Wireless Telecom Bureau, which many criticize for making spectrum auctions the center of its policy-making universe at the expense of other pressing matters.
For the SMR industry, the Goodman/Chan debacle is but one more example of not being taken seriously.
The industry, frustrated with the lack of regulatory relief provided by the bureau, aggressively is lobbying lawmakers in hopes it can persuade the FCC it was not Congress’ intent that traditional SMRs comply with all common carrier rules.
The irony, noted Chadmoore Wireless Group lobbyist William Owen last week, is the FCC preaches competition but has hindered it in the SMR industry.
Chadmoore, a fast-growing SMR based in Las Vegas, had been trying in vain for several years to put channels-tied up in Goodman/Chan-into operation.
Paging, mobile telephone and other commercial wireless carriers are furious with the bureau, too, blaming it for the FCC’s recent decision not to repeal mandatory resale laws.
What made the ruling hurt all the more was that the FCC waited more than a year (beyond the statutory deadline) before acting on the forbearance petition filed by the Personal Communications Industry Association.
The forbearance ruling now sets a precedent. Congress in 1993 and 1996 gave the FCC leeway to forbear from imposing common carrier rules on wireless carriers. Yet the FCC, according to industry, has failed to use deregulatory tools provided by Congress.
There is more. The wireless industry strongly believes, according to industry officials and lobbyists, the wireless bureau has deferred too much decision-making authority to the FCC Common Carrier Bureau on policies flowing from the ’96 telecom act.
The wireless industry barely won a policy carve-out on interconnection rules, but has not been as fortunate so far on universal service, numbering and other telecom act-related issues.
The wireless industry is equally disappointed with Kennard for not going to bat for it on antenna-siting moratoria and taxes, turning to Capitol Hill and the courts for help.
Meanwhile, some in the public-safety community are upset the bureau delayed spectrum-relief authority that Congress gave it in the 1997 budget bill.
After three years, the FCC late last week was expected to provide some additional public-safety frequencies sought by South Bay Regional Communications Authority in Southern California.
But bureau action on this matter required numerous letters from Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) and brow beating by congressional appropriators.
New Hampshire is seeking similar public-safety spectrum help, but had to enlist Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.), chairman of the Senate appropriations subcommittee that oversees the FCC’s budget, to get the bureau’s attention. The outcome of that proceeding is unclear.
