Posts Tagged ‘Verizon’
FCC Seeks Information from Sprint, Verizon, Others on AT&T-T-Mobile Merger
Posted on June 7, 2011Only a week after it asked AT&T, Inc. and T-Mobile USA, Inc. to answer hundreds of questions regarding their pending merger, the FCC has sent letters to the nation’s next five largest mobile wireless carriers asking them to provide answers to a series of questions regarding their retail service offerings, their internal operations, and in some cases, their contractual relationships with the merging parties. Specifically, the Commission asked Verizon Wireless, Sprint Nextel, MetroPCS, US Cellular and Cricket Communications a series of eight or nine questions. Each company was asked to provide coverage maps, plans for future network deployments, a complete list of cell sites owned or shared with the merging parties, a complete list of backhaul facilities owned or shared with the merging parties, retail price lists, billing data, subscriber counts, and discuss spectrum and capacity issues and the competitive landscape of the industry. Additionally, Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel were asked to describe all agreements, between them and the merging parties, involving rights-of-first-refusal or discounts for backhaul or access to cell sites. All five parties have until Monday, June 20, to provide answers to the Commission.
FCC Requests Information From Verizon on Blocked 911 Calls
Posted on February 22, 2011The FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau has asked Verizon to provide the FCC with information concerning a large number of 911 calls that were recently blocked on Verizon’s network. According to an FCC news release, approximately 10,000 911 calls placed on Verizon’s network in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties in Maryland did not connect to 911 call centers during a snowstorm on January 26, 2011. Specifically, a preliminary FCC investigation shows that 14 circuits in Verizon’s network that route all wireless calls in Montgomery County failed and nine of 10 circuits in Prince George’s County failed over a period of five hours on January 26, 2010. The network failure caused approximately 8,300 blocked 911 calls in Montgomery County and 1,700 blocked 911 calls in Prince George’s County. The FCC has ordered Verizon to provide a full assessment of what caused the failure to connect the wireless emergency calls to 911 call centers, identify remedies to help prevent similar future occurrences, and implement solutions to quickly restore reliable network operations when there are problems. The FCC has requested that Verizon provide a response no later than March 10, 2011.
FCC Issues USF Order and NPRM on Surrendered ETC Support
Posted on September 7, 2010The FCC has issued an Order and Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that provides instructions for implementing Verizon Wireless’s and Sprint Nextel’s commitments to surrender high-cost universal service support as required by respective mergers transacted in 2008. The Order states that the surrendered support does not need to be redistributed to other competitive eligible telecommunications carriers (ETCs) in all cases, and directs the surrendered support to be held in reserve as a down payment on future broadband universal service reforms.
In the NPRM, the FCC is requesting comment on permanently amending its rules to facilitate efficient use of reclaimed excess high-cost support. It also seeks comment on a proposal to modify FCC rules to reclaim legacy support surrendered by a competitive ETC when it relinquishes ETC status in a particular state. Comments are requested 21 days and reply comments 35 days after publication of the NPRM in the Federal Register.
FCC and DOJ to Strengthen Merger Review Coordination
Posted on August 6, 2010FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski has announced that FCC staff and staff of the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division have begun consultations to apply their various statutory standards of review to wireless merger divestitures. The FCC recognizes that the two agencies have historically applied separate and potentially conflicting goals in their respective reviews. Recently, in reviewing Verizon’s divestitures to Atlantic Tele-Network in connection with Verizon’s merger with ALLTEL, the FCC encouraged procedures to divest certain properties to small businesses and new entrants. Conversely, DOJ emphasized the importance of divesting to a strong competitor. The FCC’s announcement also stresses that divestiture issues will be an important part of the process to enhance coordination efforts.
Appeals Court Upholds $21M ETF Verizon Payout Verdict
Posted on July 8, 2010An appeals court in California has upheld a 2008 settlement agreement between Verizon Wireless and 175,000 former customers who filed a class action lawsuit that requires the carrier to release $21M held in escrow. In 1999, the claimants sued Verizon for charging a flat $175 fee for breaking a wireless service contract early, regardless of whether the early termination was early or late in the contract period. Each plaintiff is expected to be refunded $87.50, or roughly half of the ETF assessed to their former account. A spokesman for Verizon said the settlement ended all of its early termination fee-related litigation. Since 2006, Verizon, like most carriers, has adopted a “sliding scale” ETF that decreases the amount owed the longer a customer remains under contract. However, Verizon does apply a higher overall ETF to smartphones compared to its other mobile devices.
FCC Approves AT&T’s Purchase of Verizon’s Remaining Divestiture Markets
Posted on June 23, 2010The FCC has released a Memorandum Opinion and Order approving the assignment or transfer of control of wireless properties in 79 markets in 18 states from Verizon Wireless to AT&T. The Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division has previously approved the proposed transaction. As part of the deal, AT&T has agreed to pay Verizon $2.35 billion for spectrum, wireless assets and approximately 1.6 million customers in these predominantly rural markets that the FCC required Verizon to divest after its $28.1 billion purchase of ALLTEL Communications. In an effort to alleviate potential anticompetitive concerns, the Memorandum Opinion and Order includes multiple conditions, among them, conditions related to roaming, preservation of service on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservations, and a commitment by AT&T to divest 15 megahertz of spectrum in one Michigan market. The other 26 divestiture markets stemming from the Verizon-ALLTEL merger were purchased by Atlantic Tele-Network, Inc. for $200 million earlier this year.