WASHINGTON-Small rural carriers argued that they are treated unfairly by the four nationwide carriers when it comes to automatic roaming, an accusation disputed by their larger counterparts.
Because mergers have reduced the number of nationwide wireless carriers from six to four, the Federal Communications Commission is re-examining the market for roaming services. Indeed FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein said he was willing to let the merger of Sprint Corp. and Nextel Communications Inc. go forward after he was assured there would be a wider and renewed examination of the roaming issue. The FCC began examining the issue in 2000.
“Consolidation in the wireless industry over the past 12 months has only served to amplify existing concerns about the current state of roaming practices,” Adelstein said when the agency was reopening the issue. “Unfortunately it can sometimes be difficult to determine where the lines are between reasonable business practices and unreasonable discrimination, and we need to hear from industry on where these lines may fall.”
Not surprisingly, smaller players want proscriptive rules, and larger carriers want few or no rules. CTIA said it did not file comments due to the variety of views held by its members.
Small and rural carriers say they are hurt by the inability to roam on larger carrier networks. “Leap’s efforts to introduce an occasional roaming capability to its subscribers have been greatly impeded by large carriers who have refused to negotiate reasonable terms with Leap, even though their services are technologically compatible and they have plenty of available capacity on their networks,” said James Barker, outside counsel for Leap Wireless International Inc. “Large carriers demand exorbitant rates for automatic roaming. Indeed, the average wholesale roaming rates that the largest wireless carriers charge to unaffiliated carriers exceeds-in some cases by four times-the retail rates that these carriers charge retail customers.”
“RCA members denied the opportunity to participate in automatic roaming agreements stand to lose large numbers of customers who would act to assure themselves access to wireless services in more markets even though they may lose, perhaps unknowingly, service availability in portions of the rural markets where they live and work each day,” said David Nace, outside counsel for the Rural Cellular Association.
T-Mobile USA Inc., the smallest of the four nationwide carriers, said regulations are not necessary.
“The FCC should reject suggestions that it impose an automatic roaming requirement or some form of non-discrimination requirement regarding roaming arrangements. Regulation in this case is unnecessary because regulatory intervention into roaming relationships would harm, not benefit consumers. Similarly, the commission should not regulate the terms or conditions of roaming agreements,” said Thomas Sugrue, T-Mobile vice president of government affairs and former chief of the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau. “It would also be a mistake for the commission to hinder a wireless carrier’s technological flexibility by requiring it to facilitate another carrier’s ability to roam on its network.”
Cingular Wireless L.L.C., the largest carrier, said any perceived discrimination is due to the advance of technology, not to intentional actions.
“Smaller carriers are losing roaming traffic for a number of reasons that have no relationship to roaming agreements between large carriers. For example, when Cingular began deploying GSM technology, many small carriers did not. Thus, roaming traffic decreased. This was not due to a sweetheart roaming deal, but resulted from competition that prompted the deployment of more advanced technologies. Roaming traffic that might have gone to a TDMA-based rural carrier now goes to a competing carrier that offers GSM service,” said David Richards, an attorney at Cingular.
