The Supreme Court upheld 7-2 Metrophone’s right to sue a carrier to recover unpaid payphone charges. Global Crossing had challenged Metrophone’s right to sue it to recover payphone charges, arguing that the Communications Act doesn’t let companies enforce FCC regulations in court as they can the law itself. A victory for Global Crossing would have shaken up legal enforcement of telecom regulation. Justice Stephen Breyer wrote for the majority. Justice Antonin Scalia filed a vigorous dissent, and Justice Clarence Thomas also dissented.
Howard Buskirk
Howard Buskirk, Executive Senior Editor, joined Warren Communications News in 2004, after covering Capitol Hill for Telecommunications Reports. He has covered Washington since 1993 and was formerly executive editor at Energy Business Watch, editor at Gas Daily and managing editor at Natural Gas Week. Previous to that, he was a staff reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the Greenville News. Follow Buskirk on Twitter: @hbuskirk
Michael Wilhelm, deputy chief of the Policy Div. of the FCC Public Safety Bureau, was reassigned to the Commission’s Media Bureau, to the surprise of some. Some public safety officials were concerned about the move, sources said. Wilhelm was the designated federal official (DFO) of the Public Safety National Coordinating Committee (NCC), which recommended the rules for the 700 MHz public safety band and had been integrally involved in 800 MHz rebanding efforts. Wilhelm had been rumored to be a candidate to become the first Public Safety Bureau chief. But the job went to Derek Poarch.
Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin vigorously defended the XM- Sirius merger under sometimes hostile questioning from members of the Senate Commerce Committee during a hearing Tues. Senators raised issues of localism and media concentration. Karmazin also faced questions about why Sirius and XM don’t already make available interoperable radios capable of handling both services.
DoJ asked XM and Sirius for more on their proposed merger in a 2nd information request, the companies said in filings to the SEC. DoJ and FCC likely will query competitors, vendors, advertisers and customers, too, sources said. Meanwhile, NAB again released data to back a demand that regulators reject the merger as anticompetitive.
The 3rd U.S. Appeals Court, Philadelphia, is expected to hold long-delayed oral arguments in late May in a case filed by Council Tree, Bethel Native Corp. and the Minority Media & Telecom Council against the FCC, seeking to overturn the 2006 advanced wireless services auction. The court set arguments for May 25, but may reschedule them to another day that week for logistical reasons, a court order said. One wireless industry source said Thurs. carriers doubt the AWS auction will be overturned. “Even if Council Tree convinces the judge that somehow the FCC cut corners too quickly,” a source said: “That doesn’t lead to undoing the auction results. The most likely and appropriate relief were Council Tree to prevail would be to send the results back to the FCC to do over as a remand, but of the auction rules… Most people feel the FCC has the better side of the argument. The FCC usually does because of the deference that courts show” the agency. But a 2nd wireless industry source said a remand would create a procedural mess for the Commission, serving only to postpone final court resolution of the matter and leaving the issues unresolved before the 700 MHz auction.
FCC Chmn. Martin used Tues.’s FCBA Chairman’s Dinner to poke fun at the stern reaction he received to some of last year’s jokes. Martin was taken to task by Sen. Boxer (D-Cal.) at a March hearing for joking during the Dec. 2005 Chairman’s Dinner about the “KGB-like atmosphere” at the FCC on his watch. Boxer said she didn’t find his comments funny.
NetFreeUS asked the FCC to make public financial information filed by M2Z, a rival contender to build a broadband wireless network in the 2.1 GHz band. NetFree filed a FOIA request at the FCC seeking financial data it says M2Z acknowledged providing in a statement “buried in footnotes” in a filing at the agency. NetFree, which is backed by publicly traded Speedus Corp., also countered arguments M2Z has made asking that its application be thrown out.
NAB took its case against the Sirius/XM merger to the FCC in a series of meetings with commissioners and their staff where it warned of dangers to local broadcasters of the proposed merger. NAB representatives met with Comrs. Copps, Adelstein and McDowell, as well as Michelle Carey in Chmn. Martin’s office, according to a letter filed at the FCC. But a separate study claimed to refute some NAB arguments.
The Network Reliability & Interoperability Council (NRIC) and the Media Security & Reliability Council (MSRC) were combined by FCC Chmn. Martin to form a new advisory group, the Communications Security, Reliability & Interoperability Council. After meeting 3 times per year in 2004-2005, NRIC VII, the latest version, held its final meeting Dec. 16, 2005. “The purpose of the council is to provide recommendations to the FCC to ensure optimal security, reliability and interoperability of communications systems, including telecommunications, media and public safety communications systems,” the FCC said in a notice. One industry source who had been on NRIC said Mon. the group’s main value was making certain carriers fulfilled commitments on making communications systems more reliable. “This has probably been the least active [NRIC] has been since this was set up when Al Sikes was still chairman of the FCC,” the source said: “Part of the value was making sure people really were doing what they were supposed to be doing and reporting to the group at large.” The MSRC last met a year ago. Last summer, state regulators questioned why the FCC had stopped scheduling meetings for groups like NRIC (CD Aug 30 p1) and the N. American Numbering Council.
Chmn. Martin is teeing up an order and rulemaking that would require wireless carriers to get better at locating callers in emergencies, reviving FCC proceedings stalled for years. Martin recently met with public safety officials to tell them he would proceed with proposals carriers generally oppose. A study coming this week from the Assn. of Public Safety Communications Officials takes a close look, based on field tests, at carrier adherence to current standards.