Republican commissioners question process
T-Mobile US appears to have scored a win in its battle to have the Federal Communications Commission take a closer look at mobile data roaming rates.
In a controversial Declaratory Ruling, the FCC’s Wireless Telecommunications Bureau granted T-Mobile US’ request for stronger oversight and guidance in terms of data roaming rates provided by mobile operators. T-Mobile US had claimed that the “commercially reasonable standard” used to determine data roaming rates has led to ambiguity in the process due to a lack of access to all currently available data roaming deals, including those or resellers and mobile virtual network operators. As such, T-Mobile US claims it has been forced to cap data usage of its customers when they are roaming on a competitor’s network due to the current data roaming rates.
“In our view, it would serve the purposes of the data roaming rule for us to provide this guidance,” the ruling states. “The need for such guidance is underscored by increasing consumer demand for data services which is driving significantly more intensive use of mobile networks, and by differences among mobile broadband service providers in terms of spectrum holdings and network coverage. The availability of roaming capabilities is and will continue to be a critical component enabling consumers to have a competitive choice of facilities-based providers offering nationwide access to mobile data services. We believe that issuing guidance can facilitate the achievement of these objectives and is thus an appropriate exercise of the commission’s broad discretion in conducting its proceedings so as to best conduce to the proper dispatch of business and to the ends of justice.”
T-Mobile US was obviously supportive of the decision.
“Consumers deserve affordable access to mobile broadband from their carrier of choice no matter whether they’re at home or on the road,” said Andy Levin, SVP of government affairs at T-Mobile US, in a statement. “We commend the FCC for taking this important step to promote competition by facilitating reasonable data roaming rates for all carriers and their customers.”
Sprint also chimed in with support for the FCC’s decision.
“Sprint is pleased that the FCC has provided carriers greater clarity on the Data Roaming Order. The FCC’s guidance should facilitate the negotiation of more reasonable data roaming agreements, giving consumers greater freedom to use their smartphones and seamlessly access the Internet wherever they travel,” the carrier noted in a statement. “This is an important step to help create a level playing field, one that promotes greater competition in the wireless industry and gives consumers more choices.”
T-Mobile US initially filed its petition for clarification with the FCC in May, asking the FCC to take another look at previously approved data roaming rules that it claimed were not meeting the FCC’s guidance. T-Mobile US, which reiterated its position in September, received support from a pair of trade associations representing rural operators.
Both AT&T Mobility and Verizon Communications came out against the request, with AT&T Mobility claiming that its smaller rival was asking the FCC to “eviscerate” its previous ruling and upset the “careful balance” the FCC had established in “ensuring that mobile wireless providers can obtain data roaming arrangements on reasonable terms while preserving incentives to invest in broadband networks.”
“In short, T-Mobile’s latest effort to manufacture a case for new data roaming regulations offers no reasoned basis for the commission to abandon the careful balance struck in the data roaming order,” noted Joan Marsh, VP of federal regulatory at AT&T, in a blog post. “T-Mobile, like the rest of the industry, has shifted to LTE, and can choose among multiple LTE roaming partners, including new roaming hub arrangements like the kind that Sprint has entered into with 27 carriers covering (38 million potential customers).”
Republican commissioners question procedure
In addition to going against arguments from Verizon Wireless and AT&T Mobility, the Republican commissioners on the FCC expressed displeasure in how the FCC handled the process. Commissioners Ajit Pai and Michael O’Rielly noted in a joint statement that FCC leadership bypassed established decision-making protocol by having the FCC’s Wireless Bureau handle the data roaming issue.
“This is not how democracy works. And it’s not how the FCC in particular has ever worked,” Pai noted in a statement. “Commissioner O’Rielly and I jointly requested that the items be brought before the commission for a simple up or down vote, consistent with both the law and the long-standing practice of both Republican and Democratic FCC chairmen. The chairman’s office refused. I am not aware of a situation in which similar requests from two commissioners for a commission-level vote has been rejected (the usual course is to accommodate even one request). Bad enough as the refusal to negotiate with other commissioners (not just Republicans) is, it’s even worse not to allow other offices any input whatsoever.”
Verizon Communications also touched on the process in disagreeing with the decision.
“The U.S. wireless market is the envy of the world and one of the country’s leading sources of economic growth,” noted Kathleen Grillo, SVP of federal regulatory affairs at Verizon. “It is deeply troubling that the Wireless Bureau has changed a fundamental wireless rule in ways that discourage investment and unfairly advantage one company over others, and has done so without a commission vote, as required by law.”
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