Mandate seen as big win for smaller mobile operators
The FCC has adopted an order that extends 30-year-old mobile voice roaming rules to users’ data connections.
By requiring facilities-based mobile operators to strike data roaming deals with other such operators under “commercially reasonable” terms, the FCC hopes to see to it that mobile users can access the Internet in areas that aren’t served by their primary mobile carrier but that do have coverage available from an alternative operator.
The FCC said the rule should help ensure uninterrupted mobile sessions – whether they involve voice, email or other mobile applications – and that coverage is available on a competitive basis. The move is seen as a big win for smaller operators, regional carriers and their customers. Some rural players claim they’ve had a devil of a time getting the ear of the big guys to even discuss roaming deals, let alone hammering out actual terms and conditions.
AT&T and Verizon Wireless aren’t happy, of course. Bob Quinn, chief privacy officer and senior vice president of federal regulatory at AT&T, said, in part, in a statement:
“While we will thoroughly review today’s order, we continue to believe that a data roaming mandate is unwarranted and will discourage investment and build out of broadband facilities for both those seeking regulated roaming rates and those forced to wholesale facilities at those rates.”
Note: The FCC isn’t regulating roaming rates; rather, it’s trying to see to it that mutually agreeable arrangements do get negotiated.
That said, it seems nervy for AT&T to imply that such a move would “discourage investment” when it is in the throes of acquiring T-Mobile USA, which would create a U.S. GSM monopoly.
But it probably does make sense for AT&T to say that a data roaming mandate is “unwarranted” – at least, from its own perspective. After all, if the AT&T-T-Mobile deal is successful, there won’t be any other U.S. operators for AT&T to have roaming agreements with! At least not until Long-Term Evolution (LTE) networks are mainstream, which will take many years.
