Howard Buskirk

Major wireless carriers were considering their options Tues. and are expected to ask the FCC to reconsider in one form or another its public notice late Fri. setting up the rules for Auction 58 next year (CD June 22 p3). The carriers hope ultimately to tweak the rules so far fewer of the licenses will be available just to designated entities (DEs). DEs and major wireless carriers, meanwhile, are likely to go to Congress seeking support.

Z-Tel, a CLEC with the one of the biggest national footprints, said Tues. it was suspending retail operations in 8 states as a result of the decision of the Administration not to pursue an appeal of the Triennial Review Order. Sources said other CLECs may be poised to take similar steps in the coming weeks, as they reassess their business plans as the unbundled network element platform (UNE-P) is eventually phased out. MCI, in particular, is rumored to be prepared to drop out of the consumer market, though sources said no decisions have been made.

Citing privacy concerns, Verizon Wireless Pres. Denny Strigl Mon. strongly opposed taking part in a proposed wireless directory and said Verizon would write into contracts language protecting customers from having their names enrolled in a 411 registry. Strigl’s stance puts Verizon at odds with CTIA and other wireless carriers. A company source said Verizon is likely to make customer privacy an issue “as the opportunity arises” in comments on other issues as well.

CTIA Mon. sharply criticized the FCC for failing to change its auction rules when Auction 58, taking in most of NextWave’s former spectrum and other licenses in the 1.9 GHz band, takes place next year. The FCC late Fri. issued a public notice saying the auction will largely follow rules established for Auction 35 in 2000-2001 and will take place starting Jan. 12, 2005, as expected (CD June 18 p3).

The FTC is closely examining the consumer privacy implications of radio frequency identification (RFID) and may ultimately contemplate rules to protect the public, Comr. Mozelle Thompson said Mon. But Thompson said a decision on the need for regulation is still many months off and would only follow a probe by the FTC. The FTC held an all-day forum Mon. in Washington to begin discussions.

The FCC Wireless Bureau late Thurs. began to circulate an order on the 8th floor for the July meeting addressing how best to encourage wireless service in rural areas, sources said Fri. Among the critical issues the order will address is power levels of transmissions. Some carriers have urged that higher transmission levels be allowed on the grounds that there’s less potential for interference in rural areas. A CTIA-led group of carriers had a number of meetings at the FCC in recent weeks in anticipation of the order. Last week, the group met with Sheryl Wilkerson, wireless advisor to Chmn. Powell. The carriers stressed that increasing power levels is “appropriate to explore” provided there are also “adequate safeguards against interference.” The carriers also stressed in their meetings that 98% of Americans are able to choose among 3-8 carriers and competition is flourishing in rural America. The group also argued that access to capital has been a bigger impediment to rural coverage than access to spectrum.

The Center for Democracy & Technology (CDT), which has raised red flags about federal law enforcement’s March filing addressing CALEA in an Internet age, met this week with FCC Comrs. Martin and Adelstein. According to an ex parte filing describing the meeting, CDT said the FBI “has refused to engage in a dialogue that might reveal what problems (if any) need to be addressed.” CDT said the language of the statute should be construed strictly -- that CALEA covers telecom common carriers but not information services. CDT staff Counsel John Morris told us Fri. the group also has meetings set up with Comrs. Abernathy and Copps. “Our conversations so far have been constructive,” Morris said. “I believe the commissioners are concerned about possible harmful implications for the Internet…. It’s also fair to say we've not walked away from those meetings confident that the FCC won’t go down the CALEA path. They mostly listened to what we had to say without indicating where the Commission is headed.”

The Office of Engineering & Technology has started its outreach to broadcasters to build support for its proposal that unlicensed devices be permitted to use white spaces between TV channels. OET has offered as a potential inducement that broadcasters be permitted to offer wireless broadband services as a new business line in return for signing off on the proposal.

The FCC is expected to release a public notice as early as today (Fri.) establishing an auction starting in 6 months of 2,400 MHz of spectrum divided among multiple locations, including spectrum returned by NextWave. Major wireless carriers made a last-min. push to open all licenses to all carriers and do away with designated entities (DE) restrictions. But those efforts largely fell flat in recent days, sources said.

Verizon Wireless told the FCC late Wed. Nextel’s most recent offer to give public safety 2 MHz of spectrum is suspect and may not address emergency responder needs for unencumbered spectrum. The filing came as Chmn. Powell continues to ponder an 800 MHz rebanding order. Nextel accused Verizon of taking a “cheap shot.”