FCC Record, Volume 26, No. 7, Pages 4843 to 5761, March 28 - April 08, 2011 Page: 5,479
viii, 4843-5761 p. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this book.
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STATEMENT OF
CHAIRMAN JULIUS GENACHOWSKI
Re: Reexamination of Roaming Obligations of Commercial Mobile Radio Service Providers and
Other Providers of Mobile Data Services, WT Docket No. 05-265
Roaming obligations have helped fuel competition, investment and consumer choice in America's
wireless marketplace since the first cellular voice service in 1981. Today, we take a vital step to update
this framework for the 21st century, as Americans increasingly use their mobile devices for data as well
as voice.
The framework we adopt today will spur investment in mobile broadband and promote
competition. It will ensure that rural and urban consumers have the ability they expect to use their mobile
phones throughout the nation for voice calls or data-like email or mobile apps.
The rules we adopt today build on the Commission's longstanding and bipartisan voice roaming
rules. As noted, the Commission first adopted roaming requirements in 1981 as part of the original
cellular service rules. In 1996, the Commission extended these rules to the newly established Personal
Communications Services and to certain Specialized Mobile Radio carriers. In 2007, under Republican
Chairman Kevin Martin, the Commission unanimously clarified that carriers were required to provide
"automatic" voice roaming. And last year, this Commission voted unanimously to increase consumers'
access to roaming services by eliminating the so-called "home roaming exclusion."
And the record on voice roaming is one of unbridled success. Today, there are more than 300
million mobile voice subscribers and virtually every consumer has access to nationwide voice services
and roaming.
And so I am pleased that Congressional members of both parties - as well as an overwhelming
percentage of businesses in the industry -- have supported the simple, logical step of extending the basic
roaming framework to mobile broadband.
Stemming from our focus on facts, data and the realities of technology and the marketplace, we
today adopt an even lighter touch approach to reflect the swiftly evolving reality of today's data market.
This approach has benefitted from input from all of my colleagues, including my colleagues who have
decided not to support the item.
By adopting a "commercially reasonable" standard for data roaming offers, we give carriers
flexibility to tailor agreements to different environments and to account for concerns regarding congestion
and technical compatibility. We've also refined enforcement of the rules with an innovative process
designed to drive deals in the market place and minimize the need for Commission involvement.
The Commission has the option of invoking a process similar to "baseball" style arbitration that
should provide further incentive for the parties to reach agreement before ever filing a complaint with the
Commission. And we have avoided, as we did unanimously in the voice roaming context, regulating
rates for data roaming agreements, instead leaving it to the parties to set their terms.
Notwithstanding the enormous success of our voice roaming rules and the powerful logic of
updating those rules to reflect advances in technology, some have objected that today's Order is
unnecessary and may inhibit investment. The record is clearly to the contrary on both points.5479
Federal Communications Commission
FCC 11-52
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United States. Federal Communications Commission. FCC Record, Volume 26, No. 7, Pages 4843 to 5761, March 28 - April 08, 2011, book, April 2011; Washington D.C.. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc52169/m1/651/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.