WASHINGTON-The Small Business Administration said late Thursday it was withdrawing from a court case that rural wireline carriers had filed against the Federal Communications Commission regarding the intermodal local number portability rules.
“In the settlement, the Office of Advocacy agreed to withdraw its intent to file an amicus curiae brief in the case. In addition to working with Advocacy, the FCC agreed to urge state regulators to consider the concerns of small rural telecom providers that seek waivers to the new portability rules. The FCC will also examine the impact of its policies on small business in upcoming proceedings,” said SBA in a statement.
The National Telecommunications Cooperative Association and the Organization for the Promotion of Small Telephone Companies filed suit in December, claiming the FCC did not conduct a required regulatory flexibility analysis when it said in November that intermodal porting could occur even if a wireless carrier did not have a switch located in a rate center or did not have an interconnection agreement in place.
“The SBA’s involvement illustrates the merits of the associations’ case,” said NTCA and OPASTCO in a joint statement at that time, but late Thursday agreed with Eric Menge, SBA assistant chief counsel for telecommunications, that SBA’s withdrawal did not damage their appeal.
“I don’t think that has any bearing on the legitimacy of their arguments,” said Menge. “We filed our notice of intent, and we had some serious concerns, and we were able to resolve most of our concerns.”
Even without SBA, OPASTCO and NTCA plan to carry forth with their appeal. Oral argument in the case is scheduled for Nov. 18.
Wireline carriers have complained that it is not fair to make them port outside a rate center-a geographic distinction used to determine the amount to charge for completing a call. Currently wireline carriers do not port outside rate centers because this is considered geographic porting. The confusion occurred when the Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association pointed out that if the FCC did not allow out-of-rate-center porting, only one in eight customers would be eligible to cut the cord.
