More than one person in the wireless industry has referred to the government’s auction of C-block personal communications services licenses as a bad dream. Now, it seems, the Federal Communications Commission agrees.
And, like with all nightmares, the commission is trying to shake it off and forget it.
How do I know this?
The FCC rejected the Personal Communications Industry Association’s request that would have relieved wireless carriers from the obligation to resell their service. PCIA argued the marketplace is full of competition so carriers shouldn’t be forced to resell service. The majority of the commission disagreed.
Current rules call for resale obligations for commercial wireless service to end five years after the last PCS licenses are awarded.
Here’s how I know the FCC thinks the C-block auction was just a bad dream: The FCC-which was deluged with paperwork June 8 when would-be PCS carriers gave back more than 300 plus PCS licenses-said the sunset date is going to be in the past.
The same FCC that is planning to re-auction those 300 licenses sometime next year is saying the clock on the sunset for mandatory resale obligations has already started. (The D-, E-, and F-block auction ended Jan. 14, 1997.)
The same FCC that said Grand Rapids, Mich., is not Los Angeles, and there isn’t enough competition throughout the nation to get rid of mandatory resale obligations said it would backdate the sunset obligation based on the D-, E-, and F-block auctions, not the C-block auction.
Did this same FCC look at which licenses were returned? Was Los Angeles on the list? No. Was Grand Rapids? Yes. In fact, most of the returned licenses were for smaller markets.
Have the last licenses been awarded? No.
PCS carriers are building out their networks in big cities. Rural markets aren’t a priority yet. Many rural cellular carriers still enjoy having only one competitor.
Wouldn’t a mandatory resale obligation most benefit consumers in smaller markets, where there won’t be seven, or six, or even five wireless carriers to buy service from?
The FCC hinted different markets could be treated differently regarding mandatory resale, and that makes the most sense.
But does a five-year time frame help resellers in smaller markets where most PCS carriers haven’t even started deployment?
I don’t envy this commission. It inherited a few nightmares. The auction was just one of them. It sounds like resale obligation rules will be another.
