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Technology Stocks : Qualcomm Moderated Thread - please read rules before posting -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: John Biddle who wrote (30910)	1/8/2003 5:45:36 PM
From: John Biddle	Respond to of 196546

Wireless Firms Continue Fight Against Number Portability Dow Jones Business News, Wednesday January 8, 4:11 pm ET By Mark Wigfield biz.yahoo.com WASHINGTON -- The mobile-phone industry's trade association outlined a federal policy agenda that ranges from fighting an increasing call for industry regulation to seeking faster depreciation of cell-site equipment. The Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association will also continue to fight on two fronts a requirement that mobile-phone providers enable customers to take their phone numbers with them when they switch carriers. The group next week will file a petition asking the Federal Communications Commission suspend a Nov. 24 deadline to comply with the rule until the agency first changes the rules for the wireline-telephone industry. But the FCC has extended the deadline three times already and indicated the November date would be final. While wireline companies must also provide local-number portability, they must do so only within limited "rate centers," according to CTIA President Tom Wheeler. Since wireless switches generally cover several rate centers, he said customers who want to go completely wireless often can't import their wireline phone number to their wireless phone. The association is also challenging the portability rule in federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., which will hear oral arguments in the case in April. Joining Verizon Wireless Inc., a partnership between Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC , the CTIA is basing its suit on two recent court rulings which found the FCC overstepped its bounds when it imposed rules without concluding they are necessary to competition or explicitly required by Congress. The CTIA has argued the rule will cost the industry $1 billion to implement and is unnecessary in an industry where one-third of the customers find new carriers every year. State public-utility commissions have disputed that figure, noting wireless carriers had to implement some of the changes anyway to comply with another FCC rule meant to conserve telephone numbers. Mr. Wheeler said the association will also fight efforts by the states to regulate the industry. He contended a patchwork of state regulations will balkanize service and be "one of the worst anti-consumer ideas to come along." His comments came days after the influential Consumer Reports magazine criticized weak FCC oversight of the industry and noted that a wireless "bill of rights" being drafted by the California Public Utilities Commission could force the industry to change its policies nationwide. The proposal provides for clear disclosure of rates and terms on the Internet, privacy protections and consumer-friendly bills. -By Mark Wigfield, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-828-3397; Mark.Wigfield@ dowjones.com