Common carrier services: Public mobile services and private land mobile radio services— Air-ground telecommunications services consumers; biennial regulatory review,

[Federal Register: July 25, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 143)]

[Proposed Rules]

[Page 44003-44011]

From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

[DOCID:fr25jy03-28]

FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION

47 CFR Parts 1, 22 and 90

[WT Docket No. 03-103; FCC 03-95]

Rules To Benefit the Consumers of Air-Ground Telecommunications Services; Biennial Regulatory Review

AGENCY: Federal Communications Commission.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

SUMMARY: In this document, the Commission seeks comment on its rules governing the provision of air-ground telecommunications services on commercial airplanes in order to enhance the options available to the public. The Commission also proposes to revise or eliminate certain Public Mobile Services (PMS) rules that have become obsolete as the result of technological change, increased competition in the Commercial Mobile Radio Services (CMRS), supervening changes to related rules, or a combination of these factors. In addition, the Commission proposes to recodify and amend several rules, and make several conforming amendments to the Commission's rules. The Commission also seeks comment on providing licensees of nationwide paging channels flexibility to provide other services and on whether rules limiting the provision of dispatch service by paging licensees are too restrictive.

DATES: Comments are due on or before September 23, 2003, and reply comments are due on or before October 23, 2003.

ADDRESSES: Federal Communications Commission, 445 12th Street, SW., TW- A325, Washington, DC 20554. See SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for filing instructions.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Richard Arsenault, Commercial Wireless Division, Wireless Telecommunications Bureau, at (202) 418-0920, e-mail richard.arsenault@fcc.gov. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This is a summary of the Commission's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, FCC 03-95, in WT Docket No. 03-103, adopted on April 17, 2003, and released on April 28, 2003. The full text of this document is available for inspection and copying during normal business hours in the FCC Reference Information Center, 445 12th Street, SW., Washington, DC 20554. The complete text may be purchased from the FCC's copy contractor, Qualex International, 445 12th Street, SW., Room CY- B402, Washington, DC 20554. The full text may also be downloaded at: http://www.fcc.gov. Alternative formats are available to persons with disabilities by contacting Brian Millin at (202) 418-7426 or TTY (202) 418-7365 or at bmillin@fcc.gov. 1. In this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM), the Commission undertakes a fundamental reexamination of its rules governing the

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provision of air-ground telecommunications services on commercial airplanes (i.e., those rules affecting the availability of wireless services to passengers on commercial aircraft) in order to enhance the options available to the public. The Commission's goal is to promote service provision that better meets the needs of the public for wireless air-ground communications services. At present, only one of the six available licenses in this service is used to serve the public. In this NPRM, the Commission seeks comment on whether any changes to its rules could provide greater opportunities for the competitive provision of these services, leading to lower prices to consumers and increased choices in wireless services and enhancements while traveling by commercial airliner. To this end, the Commission is open to all possible suggestions for fundamental reform. In addition, in this context, the Commission seeks comment regarding whether the commercial air-ground spectrum is being efficiently used, since there is now only one operating licensee in a regulatory plan that originally contemplated six competing service providers. The Commission also seeks comment on possible amendment of rules for other wireless services to permit the provision of commercial air-ground service by licensees of such spectrum.

2. The Commission initiates this proceeding partly in furtherance of its biennial review of regulations pursuant to section 11 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended. Section 11 requires the Commission to review its regulations applicable to providers of telecommunications service and to ``determine whether any such regulation is no longer necessary in the public interest as the result of meaningful economic competition between providers of such service,'' and to repeal or modify any regulation that the Commission finds no longer necessary in the public interest. This NPRM, in part, is one of the steps in the Commission's implementation of staff recommendations under section 11 for deleting or modifying various part 22 rules. In addition, this NPRM considers other proposals submitted to the Commission by members of the public regarding changes to the part 22 regulations, including those that do not fall within the scope of section 11. The Commission accordingly seeks comment on changes to rules for each of the part 22 services--Paging and Radiotelephone, Rural Radiotelephone, Air-Ground Radiotelephone, and Offshore Radiotelephone--other than cellular as well as its rules governing developmental authorizations. In addition to eliminating unnecessary regulatory hurdles, many of these proposals provide licensees with greater flexibility regarding the use of their spectrum, which in turn leads to greater technical, economic, and marketplace efficiency.

3. In this NPRM, the Commission also proposes to revise or eliminate certain part 22 Public Mobile Services (PMS) rules that may have become obsolete as the result of technological change, increased competition in the Commercial Mobile Radio Services (CMRS), supervening changes to related Commission rules, or a combination of these factors. This NPRM in addition proposes to recodify certain part 22 PMS rules to part 1 of the Commission's rules, amend several of the part 1 rules, and make several conforming amendments to the Commission's part 90 rules.

4. In this NPRM, the Commission also seeks comment on ways to increase flexibility to enable licensees to better serve the public. For example, the Commission seeks comment on providing licensees of nationwide paging channels flexibility to provide other services and on whether its rules limiting the provision of dispatch service by paging licensees are too restrictive.

5. Specifically, to illustrate the proposals outlined above, the NPRM seeks comment on elimination or modification of numerous part 22 technical, operational and service rules. For example, the NPRM tentatively concludes that the directional antenna requirements set forth in Sec. 22.363 and Table C-2 to Sec. 22.361 should be eliminated. In addition to these rule changes, the NPRM seeks comment on elimination of the requirement to file FCC Form 409 (Airborne Mobile RadioTelephone License Application) to apply for authority to operate an airborne station. The NPRM also seeks comment regarding whether Sec. 1.929(c)(1) of the Commission's rules should be amended to specify that expansion of a composite interference contour (CIC) of a site-based licensee in the Paging and Radiotelephone Service--as well as the Rural Radiotelephone Service and 800 MHz Specialized Mobile Radio Service--over water, on a secondary, non interference basis, should be classified as a minor (rather than major) modification of license. Such reclassification would substantially reduce the filing requirements associated with these license modifications. Finally, the NPRM seeks comment on recodification of Sec. 22.157 (computation of distance) and Sec. 22.159 (computation of terrain elevation) to part 1 of the Commission's rules. Subject to several exceptions, recodification of these rules to part 1 would harmonize the methods for computing distance and terrain elevation applicable to Wireless Radio Services described in parts 1, 20, 21, 22, 24, 27, 80, 87, 90, 95, 97, and 101 so that they are subject to the same requirements.

   Procedural Matters

   Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

6. As required by section 603 of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, the Commission has prepared an Initial Regulatory Flexibility Analysis (IRFA) of the expected impact on small entities of the proposals suggested in this document. Below contains the IRFA. The Commission requests written public comments on the IRFA. In order to fulfill the mandate of the Contract with America Advancement Act of 1996 regarding the Final Regulatory Flexibility Analysis, the Commission asks a number of questions regarding the prevalence of small businesses in the affected industries.

7. Interested parties must file comments in accordance with the same filing deadlines as comments filed in this NPRM, but they must have a separate and distinct heading designating them as responses to the IRFA. The Commission's Consumer Information Bureau, Reference Information Center, shall send a copy of this NPRM, including the IRFA, to the Chief Counsel for Advocacy of the Small Business Administration in accordance with section 603(a) of the Regulatory Flexibility Act.

   Ex Parte Rules--Permit-but-Disclose Proceedings

8. This is a permit-but-disclose notice and comment rulemaking proceeding. The Commission's rules permit ex parte presentations, except during the Sunshine Agenda period, provided they are disclosed as provided in the Commission's rules. See generally 47 CFR 1.1202, 1.1203, and 1.2306(a).

   Comment Dates

9. Pursuant to Sec. Sec. 1.415 and 1.419 of the Commission's rules, interested parties may file comments on or before September 23, 2003, and reply comments October 23, 2003. Comments may be filed using the Commission's Electronic Comment Filing System (ECFS), http://www.fcc.gov/e-file/ecfs.html , or by filing paper copies.

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10. Comments filed through the ECFS can be sent as an electronic file via the Internet to http://www.fcc.gov/e-file/ecfs.html. Generally, only one copy of an electronic submission must be filed. If multiple docket or rulemaking numbers appear in the caption of this proceeding, however, commenters must transmit one electronic copy of the comments to each docket or rulemaking number referenced in the caption. In completing the transmittal screen, commenters should include their full name, U.S. Postal Service mailing address, and the applicable docket or rulemaking number. Parties may also submit an electronic comment by Internet e-mail. To get filing instructions for e-mail comments, commenters should send an e-mail to ecfs@fcc.gov, and should including the following words in the body of the message, ``get form