Wireless carriers nervous ahead of US election

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Mobile Industry & Technology Journalist - freelance

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Wireless carriers nervous ahead of US election

By CAROLINE GABRIEL

Published: 3 November, 2008

READ MORE: US

On the eve of a momentous US presidential election, the wireless sector is watching the result as closely as anyone. If the Democrats gain control of the White House and strengthen their position in Congress, a new head of the FCC would follow, who would see through important auctions such as AWS-3, and would be likely to take a more aggressive stance on some key issues, notably open access and net neutrality.

Although the established wireless interests scored some major victories under Democrat president Bill Clinton, and came under more pressure during Michael Powell's reign at the FCC in the first half of the current presidency, the past three years under FCC chair Kevin Martin have been the kindest for years towards the big carriers. Martin has been publicly in favor of major market shifts such as open access, increased broadband competition and more freely or lightly licensed spectrum options; but in reality has made few really decisive actions, rubber stamping massive consolidation around the largest players and leaving progress largely down to the operators' own agendas.

A Democrat at the helm would be likely to step up the pace on open access - Martin's main contribution so far has been to mandate open access options within the national 700MHz license won by Verizon Wireless, but the Democrats are heavily in favour of openness and its cousin, net neutrality, and would be expected to increase state intervention to ensure rapid progress and encourage new players.

One area where the wireless industry will want more progress will be federal pre-emption, which the carriers want adopted as part of a national policy, bringing uniformity to regulations and consumer protection nationwide. So far, limited moves by Congress and the FCC have been stalled by opposition from states and consumer groups. The aim is a national set of wireless consumer standards, covering areas like termination fees and billing, that would be enforceable by states but would prevent individual states pursuing their own regulations, an approach that has left carriers vulnerable to consumer lawsuits.

Over at the FCC, even if Martin achieves his goal of finalizing rules on the 700MHz reauction (the basis of the planned public safety network), and the AWS-3 sale (which would support a free wireless broadband service nationwide), this week, his successor would still have to see through the decisions, since Martin will leave early next year. Other regulatory changes that will be on the early agenda for a new FCC chair will be voice and data roaming, E-911 location accuracy, and use of the white spaces in the TV spectrum (another issue Martin had hoped to address on November 4, but which is likely to prove too controversial for a fast track vote).

Another important issue for early 2009 will be the rulemaking, which has just begun at the FCC, on the Rural Cellular Association's request to investigate carrier exclusives with handset makers; and the Rural Telecommunications Group's petition to impose on wireless providers a per-market spectrum aggregation limit of 110MHz below the 2.3GHz band. Both demands are likely to be favoured by a Democrat dominated FCC and are heavily opposed by the big four cellcos.