'Just Make a Decision'

Much of the business in Washington defines bureaucracy. Layers of politics, streams of court proceedings, rulemakings, and checks and balances insulate core issues from swift resolution. Speed in DC's hallowed governmental chambers might better be measured in dog years rather than human years.

However, a surprising sentiment among factions within the telecommunications industry has risen like a phoenix from the ashes of bureaucratic rhetoric. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) admonished the FCC as being a do-nothing commission. Congress put the heat on the FCC to get the competition that was promised in the Telecommunications Act to bloom. Lobbyists demanded that the incredible backlog of 64,000 pending license applications and rulemakings be processed.

Joining the vocal criticism of telecommunications dissidents is Jay Kitchen, leader and president of PCIA. He characterized the wireless industry as chomping at the bit but, thanks to governmental indecisiveness, being held back.

"There are so many issues out there that a bad answer would be better than no answer," Kitchen said. "We are trying to move an industry along, and when the commission sits on an item for months and years at a time, it absolutely puts us in limbo."

He recited a familiar litany of delays suffered by wireless carriers. Freezes for a couple of years stymied the 800MHz private land mobile industry. Lack of enforcement on interconnection posed major obstacles to messaging contenders. Other delays include hedging on licensing, CALEA and siting issues. For carriers, these detentions add up to costly and irreplaceable time.

"What concerns us is that from a rulemaking, report-and-order standpoint, we have got to get these things moving and have some timely resolution to them, " Kitchen said.

Kitchen should know a thing or two about the FCC and timeliness. He spent nine years serving as staff engineer and eventually engineering assistant to Commissioners Charlotte Reid and Margita White.

"What happens with a lot of these applications is if there is a 90-day turnaround, it sits in a file cabinet for 89 days, 23 hours and 45 minutes. Then someone finally takes it out, and it may take 15 minutes or only a couple of days to work on it."

Pointing to another model of bureaucratic foot-dragging, Kitchen described the endless volley of paper-coated tedium a carrier needs to get a license approved for a new tower. A carrier sends in its application. The FCC sends it back because it is in a flood plain. The carrier responds to that, and the commission sends it back because it is in a historic district.

"We have cases where members have said, 'We are not in a historic district.' And the commission comes back and says, 'Then we need a letter from the historic district saying you are not in the historic district.'"

Kitchen said that if the FCC ever could get caught up, it would make a tremendous difference in the rate of this industry's growth. Although taking the regulatory bridle off the industry so it can grow faster sounds like a trade association mantra, is it realistic to think that the FCC could plow through more than 60,000 license applications and rulemakings as well as the many other issues it faces?

"I absolutely believe it can be resolved. But in order for it to be resolved, the commission is going to have to make some good, solid decisions and stick with them."

PCIA believes so much in its mantra that it decided to write a letter to Daniel Phythyon, FCC Wireless Telecommunications Bureau chief. In it, PCIA asked that the FCC eliminate or streamline some 71 federal regulations, characterizing them as "regulatory underbrush." The filing suggested a full series of changes that the FCC could make to its rules, some without any public notice, some with a short public notice and comment period.

"We would love to see them get rid of a lot of the unnecessary forms, questions on forms, attachments and that kind of thing. If they would do that and get rid of the unnecessary burdens, it would make them a far more effective agency."

By becoming a more effective agency, it would then free up wireless carriers to do what they were meant to do: Provide wireless airtime. In other words, the Phythyon letter intoned, wireless carriers should be devoting their efforts to meeting consumers' needs instead of trying to comply with outdated regulations.

"It was a problem when I was there, and it is a problem now. It ebbs and flows," Kitchen said.

As for the rulemakings, Kitchen suggested that someone count the number of rulemakings that are in each bureau, divide them by the number of attorneys and then set a period of time for getting those out.

"Divide up the work, set some goals and objectives and get them out," Kitchen pleaded. "But I go back to the requirement of you just have to make some decisions."

INACTIVITY BREEDS FEAR Even though their dockets are crowded with issues such as build-out, CALEA, E-911 and numbering, Kitchen said wireless carriers' biggest fear is not having a free and open marketplace in which to compete. The lack of decision and regulatory "underbrush" is blocking their view of that marketplace. He sees these companies as absolutely competitive; they just want to get out and compete.

"One of them once told me, 'I don't care what hoops you want me to jump through, just tell me what they are and let me jump.'

DECISIVE, NOT DIVISIVE OK, say the FCC cuts out the interminable regulatory delays, catches up with its book work, and adopts a decisive course in handling wireless issues. Does that guarantee that the resultant action will be an industry free to grow more quickly? Looking to the recent wireless history, some might suggest that events such as the auctions that were rushed through the FCC have created rather devastating repercussions.

"Yes, it turned out to be a bad answer, but I am not so sure it was from pushing it through in a hurry." Kitchen said that even if the commission had delayed six months, he doubted that it would have known any more than it did when it handed down the decision.

"You can look for that perfect response and forget what the original goal is and get yourself wrapped around your own axle."

He said if a decision is made and it is the wrong one, the industry always can go back and change it. He used the Telecom Act of 1996 as an example. Even though it took years to construct, it wasn't a perfect plan. Now the industry, Congress and others are tweaking it because some things are happening that the original architects didn't consider.

"Had they (the architects) not gone ahead and bit the bullet and done something, we would still be suffering along with the Telecommunications Act of 1934."

CALEA Consider another major industry effort. CALEA forced wireless to face off with Big Brother FBI. What if quick, decisive action had been taken by the FCC? Could the wireless industry have ended up with a list of requirements that would have positioned it closer to a policing mechanism than a wireless carrier? "It depends on when you get a change. We are already agents of change."

Kitchen said that if the FBI had gotten its way, the technical standards that the industry developed, including the 11-item punch list, would have been signed into law long ago. However, he said the industry has done a good job of keeping the entire process on track. Ultimately, that means that the FCC sees exactly what it needs to see before setting requirements. Currently, the item is waiting for an FCC decision about whether the FBI's eleventh-hour punch list is legal and how much will be included under CALEA.

"The whole issue is in the commission's lap, and this is an area where if they would move faster rather than later, industry can react."

FAIR COMPETITION There is a certain inarguable logic to Kitchen's rationale. If carriers spend less time strangled by regulatory paperwork and hoop-hopping, they can spend more time perfecting their networks and catering to their customers. Given that, it seems like a no-brainer that the industry would grow faster. Kitchen referred to a recent survey that revealed that 42% of Americans would switch to wireless service today if the price were comparable to wireline.

"In order to get that price the same, we need to get rid of the regulatory burdens that are stopping free and fair competition," Kitchen said. "That is what the Agenda for Wireless America is all about: To get rid of the burdens to a full, open market on wireless competing head to head with wireline. Then the rest will take care of itself."

Back in February, PCIA unveiled its 6-point Agenda for Wireless America. The association outlined six areas that would help make direct competition a reality. They are wireless tax reform, fair interconnection, infrastructure development, long-term spectrum planning, network coordination and foster international opportunities.

Although the agenda is the No. 1 priority for the association and the industry, Kitchen told which areas are moving along rapidly since February and which continue to plod along.

The hare: Kitchen cited local number portability and siting developments as providing an encouraging pace. PCIA continues to make Congress aware of the tax issues. "Municipalities, state and local governments are looking at the telecom industry as a golden egg, as a resource for revenue," Kitchen said. He said he anticipates an encouraging announcement regarding local and state government shortly.

The tortoise: At the other end of the Agenda's race continuum, Kitchen pointed to interconnection and CALEA as the elements that can't get out of first gear. Although he expressed enthusiasm at decisions on interconnection such as the FCC's Dec. 31 letter, he said it is too slow. As for CALEA, "It is just moving at a snail's pace. It is like you take one step forward and two back."