Ruling Brightens Future of Fixed Wireless

The State of North Dakota Public Service Commission fined Consolidated Telephone Cooperative for discontinuing service to Western Wireless in the early part of this year with the intent of preventing the mobile company from providing competitive service.

The commission's $15,000 fine, of which all but $1,500 is suspended on the condition that Consolidated stay out of trouble for the next two years, is seen as a victory for the future of fixed wireless.

Telecommunications analyst Herschel Shosteck said Western Wireless' legal battle sets a precedent for the industry.

"This is just one more move that tells me fixed-wireless applications are absolutely going to happen, and they're going to happen worldwide," he said.

The decision in North Dakota will put pressure on the FCC to allow Western Wireless and other wireless carriers access to universal-service funds and the opportunity to serve Indian reservations and rural areas with fixed-wireless service.

Currently, Western Wireless is awaiting eligible telecommunications company status to receive U.S. funds and provide service to the Crow Indian Nation in Montana.

Shosteck said Western Wireless is now one step closer to becoming a reservation service provider and paving the way for fixed wireless. He also predicted that reservation and rural service will transition from wireline to wireless with a hybrid solution. Wireless companies could allow fixed-wireline cooperatives to resell their mobile service, keeping cooperatives such as Consolidated in the market but out of the competition and less likely to act the way it did in North Dakota.