Small Carriers Girding for Telecom Act Rewrite
LAS VEGAS -- Congress likely will take a hard look at a Telecom Act rewrite next year, Competitive Carriers Association President Steve Berry said Wednesday at the close of the association’s convention. CCA closed with a panel of carrier executives who discussed the outlook for a rewrite.
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"I think there’s going to be an effort to explore the needs or fallacies or improvements in the ‘96 Telecom Act,” Berry said. “I think the process has already begun. I think there’s a lot of thinking going on, especially on the House side. … I'm sure that members of Congress are going to start putting not only their mind on it but pen to paper next year."
Berry said some members want to launch a series of roundtable discussions similar to those held during the buildup to the 1996 law. Congress has already started to hold early hearings, he said. “We saw a little of that this year and I think you're going to see it pick up a whole lot next year,” he said. That’s why CCA is asking for advice from its members on what they need from legislation, he said. “We need to know what we need and want and where are our sort of wheelhouse issues,” Berry said. But Berry also said the 1996 rewrite took Congress “almost 10 years” to complete. “I think it could take four or five months to crystallize what the issues are,” he said. “There may be such great variety and differences [that legislation] might not come about for a year or two years, but I think what you might find is there will be consensus on certain pieces."
The 1996 Act “was a tremendously effective piece of legislation and it set the stage for a lot of game changing innovation,” said Russ Merbeth, vice president at Cricket. “There were some things that came through very well. … There are things today that have not been fully ironed out.” But Merbeth said “it’s hard to imagine that there’s something comprehensive like that could or would be done again.” If Congress does take on a Telecom Act rewrite, small carriers will need to refocus much of their work from the FCC to Congress, he said. “All of the carriers, and the ecosystem that surrounds the carriers, really needs to step up."
Larry Lueck, associate counsel at small carrier Nsight, questioned whether anything similar to the 1996 Act could happen again. “I guess I can’t see that happening to the scope of what happened in 1996,” Lueck said. “I don’t think the issues are as large as that.” Lueck said the FCC tends to be “reactive” instead of “proactive” by its nature. “The biggest change I'd like to see is there be more self-regulation type stuff,” he said.
The FCC addressed complaints about bill shock and stolen cellphones through compromise with the industry, Lueck said. “Really, any Telecom Act rewrite would have to address the regulatory environment at the FCC and get them to be more receptive to the industry,” he said.
Bluegrass Cellular Vice President Chuck Willis said the problem for small carriers is consolidation. “Instead of a rewrite [of] the Communications Act, maybe we need to have a second divestiture,” he said. Most pressure for a rewrite is likely to come from AT&T, Willis said. “It’s going to probably be about AT&T trying to lessen the restraints on their ability to do acquisitions,” Willis said. “I think it’s going to be very important and inject them into that process as well."
The small carrier officials agreed they need to go on the offensive if Congress launches a rewrite effort. “I think it’s important to have an upfront wish list that’s more than a wish list, that’s realistic and that addresses the competitive issues that we're seeing,” Merbeth said. “We're good at talking about the issues, but it’s really going to take a lot of effort to get our issues embedded in the discussion."
"Congress tends to be a compromise organization,” Willis said. “We need to have our issues as part of the compromise. I think that it’s very important that we get together on our issues, we have a united front on our issues."
The carrier executives also discussed the importance of a handset interoperability mandate, a key policy focus of CCA. “With LTE, we're right back into the soup again as far as getting the number of devices that we need,” Willis said. “There’s a big difference between having a device and having a fleet of devices and I think we're in a situation where we have a device. It puts us in the business … but at a competitive disadvantage.”