Regulators bid for more influence on both sides of the pond

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Mobile Industry & Technology Journalist - freelance

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Regulators bid for more influence on both sides of the pond

By CAROLINE GABRIEL

Published: 26 January, 2009

One of the key features of the current economic crisis has been the failure of hands-off regulations in many sectors. While outgoing FCC chair Kevin Martin warned against a kneejerk return to rigid regulation, as he resigned last week, his words will fall on deaf ears in many areas, and if the past week has been anything to go by, we will be hearing far more from the likes of the FCC and the UK's Ofcom, and perhaps a new lease of life for the idea of a unified EU super-regulator.

New US president Barack Obama has named Democratic FCC commissioner Michael Copps as acting chair until the new head - nominated as Julius Genachowski - is confirmed by Congress. Copps is a vocal supporter of more stringent regulatory policies with clear oversight and stepped-up consumer safeguards. He is also wary of more telecoms consolidation and backs media diversity.

If Genachowski's confirmation drags on, Copps will be at the helm during the decision over the thorny issue of digital TV transition. It appears that a compromise has been reached, under which transition of analog broadcasters will wait from February 17 until June 12 to address set-top upgrade issues, but with a carve-out for first responders, as supported by public safety agencies and Senator John McCain. This could be put to Congress later this week.

The revised bill should also enable cellcos to begin testing their new equipment in the 700MHz spectrum they acquired last year, and could also offer relief on network deployment requirements. This will particularly affect Verizon, which has a national license and wants to start early trials of LTE. Qualcomm has not, so far at least, gained its wish that nine TV stations should surrender their frequencies on February 17, covering the most important markets for the planned expansion of its MediaFLO mobile TV service, set for February 18. According to RCRwireless.com, Qualcomm COO Len Lauer said the delay legislation should be called the "economic de-stimulus act".

Also in the US, the House Committee on Energy and Congress has approved a $2.825bn fund for the broadband industry as part of the broader stimulus plan, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. About $1bn would go to wireless - 25% to voice in unserved areas and 75% to advanced wireless broadband in underserved communities. Each state must submit a report indicating the regions that are its priorities for broadband, and all grant recipients must support open access, a provision that has been opposed by the CTIA. The new rules could integrated with the stalled plan for a nationwide, free, open access network in the AWS-3 band.

Across the pond, the UK regulator is also trying to flex its muscles, but has suffered a setback, with its planned reduction in mobile termination rates being blocked by the UK Competition Commission. Instead of the four main UK cellcos having to reduce their termination rates to 5.1 pence per minute by 2010-2011, as ruled by Ofcom, they must instead reduce them to 4 pence per minute. The fifth operator, 3 UK, is given late entry protection by being required to cut only to 4.4 pence per minute.

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