Small Carriers Ask FCC to Keep Promises on 700 MHz Rulemaking
Small carrier officials are asking the FCC to tee up a 700 MHz interoperability rulemaking notice for a vote at the March 21 meeting. The FCC committed in its AT&T/Qualcomm order in December to release the rulemaking in the first quarter (CD Dec 27 p1). Industry officials said they have been told FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski wants to vote on the notice in an open meeting. The agenda for the February meeting is already set, and the March meeting is the last of the quarter.
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"We are very encouraged that the FCC will address the 700 MHz interoperability NPRM, and we are even more encouraged that the FCC is focusing on the lower Band 12, which directly affects a number of our members,” said Steve Berry, president of the Rural Cellular Association. “As you know, RCA has been fighting for an interoperability requirement, which will tremendously benefit consumers and help bring high-speed mobile broadband services across the country.”
An executive at a small wireless carrier said he was hopeful the FCC would release an NPRM in March and move quickly on a final rule while Genachowski is still chairman. “We fully expect the commission to honor its commitment to vote out an NPRM before the end of the quarter,” the executive said. “Action on this item is long overdue."
RCA agrees with some of the arguments in a Jan. 25 ex parte letter from Verizon, that the FCC should focus a 700 MHz interoperability rulemaking on “AT&T’s continued utilization of Band Class 17 in the Lower 700 MHz spectrum band,” RCA said in a filing at the commission. “Collapsing Band Class 17 into Band Class 12 will resolve the single greatest technical impediment to rural and regional carriers deploying 4G LTE services,” RCA said (http://xrl.us/bmqoix). “However, because of AT&T’s control over the device market, particularly in the Lower 700 MHz spectrum band, and based on the record developed in the interoperability proceeding, the FCC must promptly issue an interoperability requirement.” An interoperability mandate would “encourage affordability and availability of 4G LTE devices, enhance competition by facilitating widespread deployment of broadband services and consumer choice, and offer consumers greater roaming opportunities among 700 MHz operators,” RCA said.
MacBride Spectrum Partners, meanwhile, urged an immediate “freeze” in the authorization of non-interoperable equipment across the 700 MHz band. “The negative consequences of non-interoperable devices in the 700 MHz spectrum band is substantial and attributable to anti-competitive behavior that clearly undermines the language and the intent of the Telecommunications Act,” MacBride said in a filing at the FCC (http://xrl.us/bmqptq). “It may already be too late to prevent the irrevocable harm solely as a result of noninteroperability and the inability of small business to launch service in the 700 MHz A block frequencies because of the non-availability of devices.”