Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Code Of Conduct Draft Gets Overall Good Reviews

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2003 04:25:01 -0400

Code Of Conduct Draft Gets Overall Good Reviews
BY MARK ROCKWELL
AUGUST 18, 2003

WASHINGTON -- CTIA's draft of its soon-to-be released voluntary carrier code of
conduct has received favorable response from the FCC, say sources familiar with
the document, but the FCC isn't likely to act soon.

Efforts by CTIA to jump-start a movement by carriers to employ a voluntary code
have been ongoing for months and are now set for fruition on Sept. 9, when the
organization will release the document. CTIA hopes carriers will use it in
contracting with their customers and avoid creeping and crushing state-level
regulation.

FCC officials said the document received positive reviews, but warned not to read
too much into that response. "Why would we react negatively? It's an industry step

that requires no government intervention for carriers to voluntarily adhere to
rules," said one official. The official added, with a note of irony, however, that
the voluntary rules didn't say much about the contentious issue of local number
portability for wireless carriers.  "There is an acute absence of LNP from the
consumer code," the official said.

CTIA is hoping the FCC takes some kind of stand on the issue soon, saying that
many wireless carriers operating nationally could face a daunting patchwork of
stifling rules if states are allowed to regulate them on a local basis. The FCC
has jurisdiction over carriers operating nationally.

The commission is concerned about state-by-state level regulation of national
wireless carriers. "There is significant concern over the Balkanization" wireless
rules among states, the official said. Such rules could drive up costs for
consumers, the official added.

Restrictive legislation is slogging forward in a crucial state. The California
Public Utility Commission is in the final stages of considering what could be the most
restrictive set of rules governing wireless carriers anywhere in the United
States.

The CPUC's "consumer bill of rights" is aimed at stipulating exact terms and
conditions of carrier/consumer contracts, but, say carriers, winds up strangling
any effective agreements.

The CPUC already has consulted the wireless industry on how to structure the rules

and issued a final draft of its rules July 24. Carriers say the revised rules are
still so ponderous and oppressive that advertising and billing in the state of
California may be more trouble than it's worth. Verizon Wireless regulatory officials in
California, for instance, complain that the rules went from "very, very bad" to
"very bad" after the revisions were made. The same officials question the company's
future operation in the state, although they don't go so far as to say they'd
abandon service there.

The FCC will wait until those rules become official, perhaps by the middle of this
fall, before considering stepping into the battle, according to the FCC official.
"We are reluctant pre-emptors," he says.

http://www.wirelessweek.com/index.asp?layout=newsat2direct&starting=1&pubdate=08/18/03

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