It’s “too simplistic” to question whether FCC Chmn. Powell supports telecom competition just because he also advocates deregulation where appropriate, he said in interview with Communications Daily. “Of course we favor competition,” he said. “The policy of the entire country is to favor competition.” What has been misunderstood is more “subtle” question of when intervention is right and when it isn’t, he said. Powell said he didn’t believe in jumping too quickly into new regulations or keeping old ones that no longer are necessary. Telecom Act requires FCC to review regulations periodically and determine whether they still are appropriate, so this isn’t new concept, he said: “There are appropriate places for regulation, but they should be carefully scrutinized and one should be hesitant to interfere with those operations without clear and demonstrable reasons for doing so.”
Referral to House Judiciary Committee of data deregulation bill by House Commerce Committee Chmn. Tauzin (R-La.) and ranking Democrat Dingell (Mich.) would enable Judiciary to address segments, but not all, of HR-1542, Judiciary spokesman said. Feedback from office of House Speaker Hastert (R-Ill.) to House Judiciary Committee Chmn. Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) indicated that Speaker would grant Sensenbrenner’s request for shared jurisdiction over Tauzin-Dingell, aide said. Although it remains unclear which segments of HR-1542 will become open to Judiciary’s scrutiny, members are likely to use anticipated 30-day window to tackle provisions that some feared would give Bell companies unfair advantage over competitors, he said.
Reflecting its growing interest in U.S., Bertelsmann is opening its first Washington, D.C., office, to be headed beginning June 4 by Justin Lilley, currently News Corp. vp-govt. relations. Creation of Washington office is one of first major moves by former Justice Dept. antitrust head Joel Klein, who became head of Bertelsmann’s U.S. operations Feb. 1. “Bertelsmann has clearly decided it wants to be a full-scale media player,” Lilley told us, “and they obviously see a regulatory and legislative component to that.” Lilley, whose main focus in past has been on mass media issues, said Washington office’s initial focus would be on Internet-type issues, such as e-commerce and copyright, but it would be ready for “any future business plans.” Bertelsmann has been widely speculated to be interested in U.S. broadcast, cable and motion picture businesses and is considered likely to become publicly owned in next few years. Klein, in announcing opening of office, said “our business is at an exciting juncture, with tremendous opportunities ahead.” Lilley has been counsel to House Commerce Committee, was member of Bush-Cheney transition team and has been in private legal practice. He will report directly to Klein as 2nd ranking official in News Corp. Washington office.
With decisions still pending on 3rd generation wireless spectrum, ITU Secy.-Gen. Yoshio Utsumi warned in Washington Wed. that U.S. “is at this moment left aside from the world trend” of 3G licensing. “Unfortunately, the U.S. doesn’t have secure frequencies for this service,” he said at PCIA news conference. “The development of 3G in the U.S. market is very, very crucial for the success of these services.” In separate interview, Utsumi told us he believed World Telecom Standardization Assembly (WTSA) in Montreal last fall and March IP telephony forum in Geneva had helped narrow “conception gap” on certain Internet policy issues between U.S. and other countries. In arena of ITU reform, he said recommendation would be made to ITU Council next month to create Satellite Backlog Action Group, nicknamed SATBAG, to focus on solution to satellite filings challenge that has faced ITU for years.
Several members of Senate Commerce Committee Wed. questioned Timothy Muris, nominee for FTC chmn., on writings he has published suggesting some merits to monopolies, lesson many previous govt. nominees have learned about personal paper trails. Still, Senate Commerce Committee Chmn. McCain (R-Ariz.) said Muris’s nomination had broad support in committee. McCain predicted nomination would be marked up next week and said he would push for floor vote before Memorial Day recess. Muris, who when not working in previous stints with the FTC had published many scholarly pieces, including controversial one titled “The FTC and the Law of Monopolization” in the Antitrust Law Journal last year, defended himself and his writings, even as Sen. Dorgan (D-N.D.) said: “I have some heartburn with some of the statements he’s made on monopolies.”
Senate Commerce Committee members are meeting separately with FCC nominees Michael Powell, Kathleen Abernathy, Kevin Martin and Michael Copps in preparation for May 17 confirmation hearing, Senate staffers said. Members Tues. (May 15) and today scheduled informal gatherings “to get to know” candidates and in advance of hearing express views on communications issues that would be tackled under nominees’ tenure at Commission, according to several staffers. “It’s standard procedure to meet in advance” of confirmation hearing, committee spokeswoman said. She wouldn’t rule out possible advance meetings between Chmn. McCain (R-Ariz.) and nominees, but wasn’t aware of specific questions that he intended to address. E-rate and rural network deployment will be focus of questions by committee members, other Senate staffers said.
CTIA asked President Bush to give Commerce Secy. Donald Evans “sufficient time” to complete 3rd-generation wireless spectrum assessment by delaying pending auctions. Govt. has been working toward July 31 deadline that FCC faces for spectrum allocation decision under timelines set out by President Clinton in executive memorandum last Oct. Request to Bush came as speculation has grown that Commerce Dept. wouldn’t necessarily be prepared to craft 3G decisions within tight schedule of executive memorandum anyway. Last week, House Telecom Subcommittee Chmn. Upton (R- Mich.) said panel’s hearings on issue were delayed because department wasn’t ready to unveil its “game plan” (CD May 14 p1). “Previous Administrations ignored this [3G] issue until it finally reached crisis proportions, leaving your Administration to inherit the crisis and make the tough decisions,” CTIA wrote Bush.
Congress has delayed hearings on 3G spectrum allocation because “Commerce Department is not ready” to unveil its game plan or make its case, House Telecom Subcommittee Chmn. Upton (R-Mich.) said May 11 at FCBA lunch in Washington. He said subcommittee had intended to hold hearings in April, but only Commerce official prepared for proceeding was Secy. Don Evans, “and he was out of the country.” Upton acknowledged necessity and difficulty of taking spectrum from Defense Dept. for commercial 3G use while simultaneously working to satisfy spectrum needs of military. Despite situation at Commerce Dept., he said he expects to begin hearings no later than mid-summer.
Getting support of Rep. Rohrabacher (R-Cal.) was important for chances of bill that would return satellite export controls to Commerce Dept. to clear Congress, officials said. Jim Lewis, dir., Center for Strategic and International Studies told us “getting Rohrabacher on is important for helping its chances” because of bipartisan co-sponsors. “I think that I have managed through my tenacity to pull Berman and the aerospace industry over to a policy that’s more responsible than the ones they were backing in the past,” Rohrabacher told us. Bill introduced May 3 by Rep. Berman (D-Cal.) and Rohrabacher would return satellite export controls from State Dept. to Commerce Dept., reversing action Congress approved in 1999 (CD May 7 p3), though State Dept. and Defense Dept. would have right to veto any license approval by Commerce for national security reasons.
Flurry of back-and-forth ex parte filings is continuing at FCC on 3rd generation wireless allocation issues. Catholic TV Network (CTN) took exception to contentions by Verizon Wireless that reallocating up to 60 MHz of Instructional TV Fixed Service (ITFS) spectrum for 3G wouldn’t harm incumbents. Verizon had argued segmentation of 2.5 GHz band occupied by Multichannel Multipoint Distribution Service (MMDS) and ITFS licensees would be possible. Verizon argued MMDS operators who lease ITFS spectrum have no long-term ownership rights. “Given the independent and interleaved nature of ITFS and MDS operations, it is simply ludicrous to argue that the Commission could reallocate the same 60 MHz of spectrum in every market with no adverse impact to incumbent licensees,” CTN said. Verizon comments “are simply another attempt to distract the Commission’s attention from Verizon’s true intention: to derail the deployment of a service that will directly compete with Verizon’s own DSL service.” Separately, in ex parte filing this month, Motorola outlined benefits of using 1.7 GHz band occupied by military for advanced wireless services. Company argued Dept. of Defense global training and operational requirements aren’t compatible with global use of 1710-1850 MHz band for commercial mobile services. Instead, filing said use of this band for 3G in U.S. would provide “global spectrum alignment.” Motorola said Commission shouldn’t pair 1710-1755 MHz with 2110-2150 MHz, in part because this would provide 85 MHz of spectrum, which isn’t enough to meet demand through 2010. Motorola said this pairing wouldn’t leave room for future growth using additional spectrum at 1755-1850 MHz. On issue of reimbursement of govt. users who relocate, Motorola acknowledged existing law guarantees reimbursement but it is subject to congressional authorization. Company advocated “streamlined process” that would identify costs before auction with “clear rights for both parties” and use of auction revenue to directly finance relocation. This plan also would allow federal users to modernize systems, Motorola said. Motorola contended DoD doesn’t have to vacate 1.7 GHz band altogether to make room for 3G. This could be averted by developing “system-by-system” solutions for accommodating govt. requirements and crafting solutions that would “consider realistic 3G requirements and DoD requirements,” Motorola said. How to attain global spectrum harmonization for 3G services was among issues that also emerged last week during European Institute roundtable on telecom and e- commerce in Washington. Veena Rawat, deputy director-gen. of spectrum planning and engineering for Industry Canada, said she was heartened that U.S. is considering 1.7 GHz for 3G because this would align with choice Canada has already made. “Before we talk about global harmonization we must harmonize with our neighbors here,” she said. Ruprecht Niepold, head of European Union’s mobile and satellite unit, also stressed importance of 3G harmonization, but said he expects more serious discussion about flexible spectrum allocation when attention turns to phasing out existing 2G services.