AUGUST 12, 2009 Wireless Firms Dial Up Lobbyists Verizon, AT&T Hope to Stave Off Regulatory, Congressional Action
By AMY SCHATZ Wall Street Journal http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125003143192224021.html#printMode The wireless industry has begun bracing for a long four years. Regulators and lawmakers are examining a widening number of issues -- from exclusive handset deals to text-messaging rates -- that could impact the largest U.S. wireless carriers, companies such as Verizon Wireless and AT&T Inc. Hoping to stave off regulatory or congressional action, wireless carriers are snapping up former staffers for Democratic lawmakers and beefing up their lobbying operations. Although most telecommunications lobbying operations are still run by Republicans, Verizon Communications Inc. recently hired Brian Rice, the chief telecom aide to Massachusetts Senator John Kerry, who chairs the Senate subcommittee that oversees wireless and Internet issues. Earlier this year, another long-time Democratic congressional aide, Gregg Rothschild, joined Glover Park Group, a lobbying and public-relations firm which counts Verizon among its clients. Mr. Rothschild was most recently a top adviser for Michigan congressman John Dingell, former chairman of the House Commerce Committee, and previously worked for Mr. Kerry as well as Verizon. In the first half of the year, Verizon spent $9.3 million on lobbying, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. AT&T spent $8.2 million during the same period. Both are on pace to spend slightly more on lobbying this year than they did in 2008. Later this month, the Federal Communications Commission plans to begin a broad inquiry into competition in the wireless industry. It will also review rules designed to prevent carriers from tacking junk fees onto phone bills. "You have a lot of choice and variety and new offerings being put into the marketplace," said James Cicconi, head of AT&T's legislative affairs, who is among those arguing regulators need a light touch. "Clearly, we have an argument in the wireless industry that the public interest is being met by the free market." As part of its review, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski reordered the agency to launch an inquiry into whether Apple Inc. nixed Google Inc.'s voice software from its iPhone App Store because it might compete with AT&T's services. That inquiry could soon widen, FCC officials say, to include other software applications that have been hobbled on the iPhone, including Skype's Internet-phone service and Sling Media's TV streaming software. Wireless-phone companies often agree on a variety of issues affecting the industry -- such as the need for more airwaves -- but there are plenty of issues which split large carriers like AT&T and Verizon, which have more than 167 million wireless subscribers combined, from their smaller competitors. Hoping to capitalize on dissatisfaction expressed by congressional Democrats about the competitiveness of the industry, some smaller carriers have stepped up lobbying Congress and the FCC for help. For example, small carriers, like Leap Wireless International Inc. and Cellular South, recently began meeting with FCC officials in hopes of convincing them to retool arcane rules designed to make sure consumers can use their BlackBerrys and other smart phones when they are traveling. Right now, wireless carriers are required to cut roaming deals with each other so subscribers can make calls wherever there is a signal. The FCC requires carriers to set "reasonable" rates with each other. Those rules apply only to voice calls. They don't apply to wireless-data signals, which consumers are increasingly using via smart phones that offer email and Internet access. "There is no right to data roaming. There's got to be. It's the next frontier," says Gigi Sohn, co-founder of Public Knowledge, a nonprofit consumer-interest group. "If a carrier doesn't have automatic data-roaming rights then they don't have a competitive service." For consumers, that can mean expensive data-roaming charges or loss of email and wireless Web services in some areas. "At the end of the day, it's all about the consumer," said Eric Graham, Cellular South's vice president of government relations. "They expect that phone to work wherever they go." Hoping to stave off new rules, Verizon offered a few carrots to its smaller competitors last month. The wireless giant said it would allow small carriers to offer handsets Verizon holds exclusive rights to offer after they have been on the market six months. The company also said it would cut roaming agreements with carriers who already own some airwaves in Verizon's markets, something that Deutsche Telekom AG subsidiary T-Mobile USA and other smaller carriers have sought. -- ================================ George Antunes, Political Science Dept University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204 Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927 Mail: antunes at uh dot edu *********************************** * POST TO [email protected] * *********************************** Medianews mailing list [email protected] http://lists.etskywarn.net/mailman/listinfo/medianews
