WASHINGTON-One of the core goals of the Federal Communications Commission in the 21st century is to effectively manage radio-frequency spectrum, the FCC said last week in a draft strategic report it sent to Congress.
To accomplish this, the FCC by 2003 plans to restructure its operations along functional lines rather than by industry sector.
In other words, the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau will cease to exist.
“With this plan, the FCC is meeting the challenge of reinventing itself to keep pace with the rapidly changing communications industry landscape … It will allow the FCC to enter the next century able to respond fully and quickly to emerging technologies and the inexorable movement from regulation to competition,” said FCC Chairman William Kennard.
WTB functions will be combined with like functions from the FCC’s Common Carrier Bureau to form a policy bureau and a licensing bureau.
The FCC will begin this process by “selecting one of our current technology-specific bureaus as a test case. We will restructure this bureau into a prototype of the eventual agency-wide structure,” according to the report. The FCC did not say whether WTB, the Common Carrier Bureau or Cable Services Bureau would be the prototype.
The FCC’s International Bureau, which has the lead on satellite issues and preparations for the World Radio Conference, will remain in its current form.
Kennard announced last fall that he was reorganizing the agency to place all enforcement and consumer information activities into two bureaus. This action is still awaiting congressional approval.
Included in the report is a transition time line that sees all of the goals accomplished within five years.
The FCC did give itself some outs. “A number of external factors will affect our ability to achieve our vision of fully competitive communications markets in five years … a range of additional external factors-some of which can be influenced by FCC actions, and other which largely cannot-may affect the continued development of competition in communications markets,” the report said.
These factors include “the aggressive but not unrealistic objective” of competition. “Wireless firms and satellite companies have made massive investments in the new networks that will allow, for example … wireless companies to offer phone service reliable and inexpensive enough to compete for basic local voice telephony. Should the pace of investment in these networks diminish, competition will be slower to develop.”
The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association said it was pleased that “the FCC is taking a look at changing, and moving away from the structures that were established to regulate in a monopoly environment. We hope that the FCC will rapidly move away from the `monopoly-think’ of yesterday and evolve into an agency that embraces the benefits of competition in telecommunications.”
The report is the result of a process that started earlier this year when Kennard submitted a report to Congress titled “A New FCC for the 21st Century.” Kennard and the other commissioners also have testified on reorganization plans at re-authorization hearings during the last two years.
Following Kennard’s initial report, the FCC solicited comment from what it calls “its stakeholders.” Comment was given during four public forums and sent into the agency via e-mail. The FCC gave an advance copy of the 21st century plan to these stakeholders, said Alan Shark, president of the American Mobile Telecommunications Association.
The draft report was delivered to Capitol Hill last week. The FCC plans to update the report as it receives input from industry representatives and Congress.
The input is already starting with Rep. Billy Tauzin (R-La.), chairman of the House telecom subcommittee, saying “It’s clear to me that Chairman Kennard has given this plan a great deal of thought, and he should be commended for his efforts … It’s also a growing recognition that the FCC-as presently structured-simply isn’t working anymore.”
Tauzin also said that this fall he will introduce “comprehensive FCC reform legislation, designed to restructure the agency and rein in much of its `perceived’ authority.”
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, also plans to introduce FCC reform legislation in September, said his spokeswoman, Pia Pialorsi.
The FCC may be moving too fast with changing its organization before it comes together with Congress to determine its mission, said Mary McDermott, senior vice president and chief of staff of government relations for the Personal Communications Industry Association.
“The FCC and Congress now need to agree on what the [FCC’s] mission should be in the 21st century. Once that is accomplished, it should be easier to determine what organizational structure best suits that mission,” McDermott said.
PCIA told a congressional task force last month the FCC should continue to take the lead on issues such as spectrum management.
Shark believes “the chairman is absolutely on target … he is a good listener and true leader.”
That said, Shark said he is worried some of the essential functions of the FCC will get lost in the transition. “We hope in this change we won’t lose the technical expertise … someone has to be out there worrying about the technical and interference issues … ensure that the new systems work and don’t collide with each other.”
The Industrial Telecommunications Association was not prepared to fully comment on the proposal, but did say they “were glad the FCC is looking toward the future and recognizes some changes need to be made.”
