WASHINGTON-Western Wireless Corp. is not substantially different from other Tier II carriers, so it should not be exempted from the wireless local number portability rules, said the Federal Communications Commission Monday-the same day the obligation to port numbers in the top 100 metropolitan service areas was implemented.
“Mid Missouri Cellular supports providing the pooling and porting relief that Western requests, but opposes the waiver petition because it believes that the facts set forth by Western are not unique,” wrote the FCC in a decision adopted on Friday but released Monday. “We agree with MMC that Western has not shown that special circumstances warrant an extension of the pooling and porting deadlines until May 24, 2004, or that postponing porting and pooling will serve the public interest.”
Western chose to highlight the fact that while it did not receive a waiver, it was given 60 days to come into compliance. “One-third of a loaf is better than no loaf,” said Mark Rubin, Western director of federal affairs.
The Western ruling is the latest of several rejections by the FCC to delay WLNP until rural issues can be resolved.
Further efforts at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit have also been largely unsuccessful.
The D.C. Circuit late Friday denied the emergency stay request of four rural wireline carriers and set a briefing schedule for a separate petition by the United States Telecom Association that has the FCC responding Wednesday.
