Appeals
Court upholds the FCC Data Roaming Rules
The Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the FCC to uphold
the Federal Communications rules that requires bigger phone companies like
AT&T and Verizon to agree on roaming deals with small operating wireless
networks. Verizon had challenged the ruling which was set in place last year.
The 3 judge panel of the Court of Appeals disagreed with Verizon that the FCC
had exceeded its authority by adopting this requirement.
The court said that the FCC was within its authority
to mandate Verizon to offer roaming contracts to its competitors. Of course Verizon
disagreed with the ruling but the court did say that if they are not happy with
the ruling that they can choose not to provide internet services. Although it
is unlikely that Verizon will stop providing mobile internet it must be hard
for Verizon to accept this decision since it open the doors for competition
from smaller companies.
The argument that Verizon made was that they have
the options to make deals with whomever they want and not be force to make
contracts with smaller companies. Verizon also said that the FCC did not have
the authority to regulate the internet since it does not have the authority to
regulate the internet; however it was a unanimous verdict by the judge panel in
favor of the FCC. Verizon did not say if it will appeal and take the case to the
Supreme Court, but in my opinion and given the case that this is a big deal for
them and this ruling will cause them to lose some profit, they will take the
case to the Supreme Court.
In my opinion, it was a victory for the consumers
because it will allow new competition to enter the market and might force
Verizon to stop increasing the prices it charges for the services they provide.
I know Verizon charges ridiculous prices for its services and yet they want to increase
its prices I am actually glad of the ruling, however I know somehow Verizon
will go around this law and still refuse to give contracts to smaller companies
but we’ll see how this plays out.
Work Cited:
Reardon, Marguerite. Appeals Court upholds the FCC
Data Roaming Rules. Retrieve from: 1. < http://news.cnet.com/8301-13578_3-57557061-38/appeals-court-upholds-fcc-data-roaming-rules/?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=
>.
B. Lee, Timothy. Appeals court upholds FCC's
wireless data roaming rules. Retrieve from: 2. < http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/12/appeals-court-upholds-fccs-wireless-data-roaming-rules/
>.
Gross, Grant. Appeals court upholds FCC's data
roaming requirements. Retrieve from: 3. < http://www.networkworld.com/news/2012/120412-appeals-court-upholds-fccs-data-264778.html
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