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Apr. 25, 2010

The FCC has now eliminated the highly-controversial home roaming exclusion for mobile services that had up to now allowed wireless carriers to decline roaming requests from other mobile operators if that requesting operator offered voice services in the market it was requesting the roaming agreement. The issue has been largely contested in the past and created a lot of frustration not just for subscribers but to the wireless carriers as well. Some wireless industry observers had expected the FCC's decision in this matter, and have expressed their satisfaction with it.

"By eliminating the exclusion, the order encourages wireless carriers of all sizes to reach commercially reasonable voice roaming agreements, and promotes competition, fosters innovation and empowers consumers, while creating a fair process for the commission to handle disputes that may arise in an expedited and equitable manner," the FCC said in its decision.

It added "the agency will also address any disputes on a case-by-case basis, taking into consideration the totality of the circumstances presented to determine whether requiring a roaming agreement would best further the public interest goals."

The FCC also noted that its decision also encompasses those carriers requesting push-to-talk roaming agreements, a major project for regional carrier Southern Link, which has said it has been unable to sign a deal that would allow its customers to use their iDEN-based PTT services with Sprint Nextel when roaming outside of their coverage area.

Larger wireless carriers such as Verizon and AT&T Mobility have often argued that they should not be required to offer roaming services to a rival that controls unused spectrum in a market as it encourages those operators to push off building out their networks.

The decision is seen as a victory for smaller carriers that for years have complained that larger rivals have kept them from offering roaming services to their customers in larger markets if the smaller carrier controlled spectrum in those markets, but had not yet built out a network.

The FCC said it has launched a Notice of Inquiry and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to begin implementing the plan that was laid out in the recent National Broadband Plan the commission sent to Congress in March.

The FCC added that the NOI is asking for public comment "on the use of an economic model to precisely target support for areas where there is no private-sector business case for wireless carriers to provide broadband and voice services."

The model is to estimate the difference in cost of deploying broadband to underserved areas and the potential additional revenues generated from the broadband deployment.

"This is a huge step forward for small rural and regional carriers," said Rural Cellular Association President and CEO Steven Berry. "RCA has worked diligently on this issue, and we are pleased the FCC has taken action to eliminate the in-market exception."

The Federal Communications Commission also said it would begin seeking input on whether it should extend roaming obligations to data services. This has also been a source of irritation of smaller carriers that claim larger rivals have in many cases refused to offer roaming services beyond basic voice offerings to the detriment of their customer base.

In a separate announcement, the FCC said it has begun the process of attempting to reform the Universal Service Fund "from supporting networks providing plain old telephone service into an effective and efficient tool for making affordable, high-quality broadband communications service available to all Americans."

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Source: The FCC.