Leading Verizon down the primrose path

If you want to get something done that requires the involvement of the FCC, it seems your best bet is to hope for a big merger. While other filings can be kicked around for years, merger approvals go on the fast track — and much can be accomplished by convincing the FCC to make merger approval conditional on the partners meeting certain requirements.

It’s fascinating what companies will agree to. After contesting Net neutrality, AT&T and Verizon happily bought into it to gain approval of their mergers with SBC and MCI, respectively. AT&T also agreed to limit its claim to wireless Universal Service dollars when it acquired Dobson Communications, and Verizon Wireless did the same when it acquired Rural Cellular.

Now that Verizon Wireless hopes to acquire Alltel Wireless, regional wireless carriers have been presented with an opportunity to advance their agendas through the merger approval process — and they’ve wasted no time in pursuing that opportunity. Remember that petition the Rural Cellular Association put forward in May to protest exclusive handset deals? That’s exactly the sort of thing that would normally drag on for years — but maybe it won’t, now that the RCA has asked the FCC not to approve the Verizon/Alltel merger until the matter is resolved.

Another issue the RCA raised previously that might now find a more receptive audience is automatic roaming, including data roaming. The association argues that to ensure rural customers are not penalized, the larger wireless carriers should be required to support roaming with all carriers at reasonable rates. The RCA also argues that when a large carrier upgrades its network to 3G or long-term evolution, that carrier should still be required to support 2.5 G data services so customers of carriers that have not made those upgrades can still get service when they roam.

Finally, the RCA has asked the FCC to reconsider how it determines whether a carrier has too much spectrum in a particular market. Currently, the commission only gets concerned if a carrier has more than one-third of total mobile spectrum. But the RCA is arguing for a separate cap on 800 MHz spectrum, which it believes to be the most desirable because of its propagation characteristics and ubiquitous nature.

Considering that the actions the RCA has requested should have strong consumer appeal, the association would seem to have a good chance of getting at least some of them as conditions of the Verizon/Alltel merger. The roaming-related conditions, in particular, would appear to have little negative impact on Verizon/Alltel and could have a strong positive effect on the rural cellular market and its customers.