At this writing, I haven’t a clue which bill of rights the California Public Utilities Commission will embrace or what plan the Federal Commissions Commission will adopt to remedy public-safety interference at 800 MHz.
This much I know: The mobile-phone industry no longer faces worst-case scenarios on either front. That’s today’s hunch. But given the reliable pattern of momentum shifts at the CPUC and FCC, anything is possible.
Steve Largent stepped into the lion’s den when he became president of the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association last fall. The mobile-phone industry had begun implementing local number portability, putting everyone on alert that the sky was about to fall. We’re still waiting.
In the end, with the FCC and No. 1 carrier Verizon Wireless siding with consumers, the wireless industry got religion and championed LNP. It was an embarrassing 180-degree turn for an industry already under attack by consumers and losing the public’s respect by the hour. Whether Largent would have handled LNP differently than his predecessor, Tom Wheeler, we’ll never know.
Until recently, Nextel Communications Inc., with a record of changing hearts and minds at the FCC that remains unmatched, appeared poised to win the blessing of federal regulators on the 800 MHz matter. But now, CTIA’s compromise plan-at least components of it-seem to be gaining traction at the agency.
Not so long ago, the CPUC was on track to approve a bill of rights for telecom consumers that industry warned would hurt the fragile California economy and otherwise make life unbearable for wireless carriers. But all that changed. Less regulatory bills of rights were offered to counter the original plan penned by Commissioner Carl Wood.
Those are just a few highlights. Not that Largent was expecting a cakewalk, but his was truly a baptism by fire. The mobile-phone industry will not get everything it wants on these hot-button issues, but neither will carriers be saddled with all the baggage wished upon them by others. As such, Largent has performed quite well with the hand he was dealt. I haven’t polled wireless lobbyists or executives on Largent, but industry does not appear to have suffered during his first six months or so on the job.
Image remains a big issue for CTIA, one that Team Largent is addressing. Considering layoffs the past two years and recent belt tightening at CTIA, the $500,000 bonus added to Wheeler’s million-dollar-plus salary for the Cibernet sale-largely made possible by Nextel CEO Tim Donahue-looks even worse today. CTIA does not seem as in-your-face lately. Wheeler-a Civil War buff-loved fighting battles nearly as much as winning them.
Largent is not the dramatic type. He’s from Oklahoma. His is not a world of decisive battles where much blood is spilled at every turn. Rather, Largent appears confident and focused on moving the ball up field, taking what they give him. Look up, check out the scoreboard.
