FCC to Scrutinize Wireless Handset Exclusives, Copps Says

Copps has already instructed bureau staff to draft an item on handset exclusives, he said. The FCC “should determine whether these arrangements have adversely restricted consumer choice, or harmed the development of innovative devices, and we should take appropriate action if it finds harm.”

“We would be delighted to see action on the handset exclusivity issue by the commission, especially if the proposed rules would ban these agreements,” said David Nace, attorney for the Rural Cellular Association, which asked the FCC to address the issue in a petition for rulemaking it filed a year ago. The FCC has completed a comment cycle on the petition. “The consumer should be free to purchase any handset desired from multiple sources and use the product on any compatible network,” Nace said. “The dark age of wireless service should be in the history books before the year is over.”

Caressa Bennet, counsel to the Rural Telecommunications Group, said she’s pleased that the FCC will consider the handset exclusivity petition. “Rural Americans are not second-class citizens,” Bennett said. “Just because AT&T and Verizon choose not to provide coverage in rural areas doesn’t mean that those rural wireless carriers who do provide coverage should not be able to offer popular handsets to those rural Americans because of exclusive handsets agreements. It is the FCC’s charge under the Communications Act to work hard to right this wrong and allow those working and living in rural America to have the same handsets urban Americans take for granted.”

Copps said he sees the FCC’s national broadband plan proceeding as a “huge funnel.” The lengthy notice of inquiry asked questions about many diverse broadband questions, but the FCC must write a “focused, really dead-on” broadband plan, he said. People shouldn’t see the proceeding as an “opportunity to resolve every contentious telecom issue,” he said. “If we get bogged down trying to resolve every telecom issue out there, we're not going to get that focused and achievable broadband plan that we so desperately need.”

Copps believes the national plan should deal with all Americans, he said. Underserved Americans are just as deserving of broadband as the unserved, he said. Rural areas are a priority, but so are low-income residents of urban areas, he said. The U.S. should not get “sidetracked into debate” over which Americans need broadband more, he said. If one group is picked, “we will not get a broadband plan that does justice to America’s needs,” he said.

Copps said he hopes the broadband proceeding will mark the first step in transforming the FCC into a more consumer- oriented agency, he said. “This broadband proceeding is not going to be business as usual; it’s not going to be an inside job.” The FCC should be working for consumers, not companies, he said. “We were not designed as a special- interest commission.” Citizens should be the broadband plan’s No. 1 priority, he said. Copps plans to spend the remainder of his chairmanship working toward that goal, he said.

The FCC eighth floor is still waiting for a summary of comments received on the broadband plan notice of inquiry, Angela Giancarlo, Commissioner Robert McDowell’s chief of staff, said on a panel. McDowell wants the FCC to put out a proposed set of rules for public comment before sending the broadband plan to Congress, she said. He’s also pushing for a series of broadband hearings around the country that would follow a format similar to FCC hearings held on media ownership, she said.

Copps has been meeting with NTIA and the Rural Utilities Service, but the McDowell office hasn’t been involved in the meetings, Giancarlo said. In oral discussion, Copps has provided NTIA with options on the terms it must define under the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act, she said.

Once reconfirmed, McDowell wants to make attracting more capital investment in broadband infrastructure an FCC goal, Giancarlo said. The commissioner also plans to emphasize technological neutrality, ensuring wireless and satellite technologies are not disadvantaged, and to urge caution on regulation that might have “unintended negative consequences,” she said.

The House Commerce Committee will review broadband stimulus rules coming out of NTIA and the FCC, said Roger Sherman, the committee’s chief counsel on communications and technology policy. Chairman Henry Waxman, D-Calif., “feels very strongly” that conducting oversight hearings on the broadband grant program rules is a key Congressional priority, Sherman said. Reviewing the FCC’s national broadband plan “will be a priority” for the committee, which likely will hold a number of hearings on the topic. It’s unknown whether additional legislation will be needed, he said. “We'll have to see.”

In addition to broadband deployment, adoption and sustainability are important goals for the committee, Sherman said. Waxman has said he believes broadband should be a supported service in the Universal Service Fund, he added.