[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 163 (Saturday, December 17, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E2590]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         REQUIRING RATE INTEGRATION FOR WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. MADELEINE Z. BORDALLO

                                of guam

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, December 16, 2005

  Ms. BORDALLO. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce legislation that 
will require rate integration for wireless interstate toll charges. 
Specifically, this legislation would amend Section 254(g) of the 
Communications Act of 1934, as amended by the Telecommunications Act of 
1996, to provide for rate integration of wireless long distance service 
within the United States, including the territories. With this 
legislation I intend to require uniformity in rates charged by cellular 
phone and other wireless service providers for calls and communications 
to and from Guam within the United States.
  Section 254(g) directs the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) 
``to adopt rules to require that the rates charged by providers of 
interexchange telecommunication services to subscribers in rural and 
high cost areas shall be no higher than the rates charged by each such 
provider to its subscribers in urban areas.''
  Pursuant to Section 254(g), the FCC promulgated a regulation (FCC 
Order 98-347) to cover Commercial Mobile Radio Services (CMRS) as an 
interexchange service. CMRS includes Personal Communications Service 
(PCS) and cellular services. In defense of their Order, the FCC noted 
that ``if Congress had intended to exempt CMRS providers, it presumably 
would have done so expressly as it had done in other sections of the 
[1996 Telecommunications] Act.''
  Subsequent to its issuance, the United States Court of Appeals for 
the District of Columbia Circuit vacated FCC Order 98-347, by ruling 
that interexchange telecommunication services do not encompass CMRS. In 
its ruling, the Court cited the phrase ``interexchange 
telecommunications service'' contained in Section 254(g). Since 
wireless telecommunications do not use exchanges, the Court held that 
``it is by no means obvious that the Congress, when it used a phrase in 
which the word `interexchange' is an essential term, was referring to 
CMRS.''
  It is unclear from the language of the statute whether section 254 
applies to wireless services. Section 254 does not include specific 
language regarding its applicability to wireless services, not does it 
specifically exclude such services. Moreover, the legislative history 
of Section 254(g) is not instructive as to Congress' intent regarding 
the applicability of the rate integration requirement to wireless 
services.
  Clearly, ambiguity in the law exists. As a result, cellular customers 
are subject to varying rates for calls made within the United States. 
This is particularly evident with respect to rates assessed to calls 
made to Guam and the other U.S. territories under service plans offered 
to cellular customers within the 48 contiguous states of the United 
States. Again, the Telecommunications Act of 1996 requires rate 
integration for noncellular, landline communication services. The 
legislation introduced today would simply extend this same requirement 
to wireless communications.

  Rate integration for wireless interstate toll charges is important to 
businesses and individuals located on the U.S. mainland who engage in 
regular and reoccurring voice communication with other businesses and 
contacts located in the offshore territories. Family members and 
friends are among the customers who are assessed higher and different 
rates for cellular calls made to Guam or the other territories. These 
differences in wireless rates exist despite the fact that the U.S. 
territories are included in the North American Numbering Plan, the 
numbering plan for the Public Switched Telephone Network of the United 
States.
  This legislation would bring the uniformity and fairness in rates 
desired by those in Guam wishing to keep in closer contact with 
relatives, friends, and associates who reside in other parts of the 
United States through the latest technology. Additionally, as 
technology in telecommunication advances, laws should be updated and 
developed to keep pace. This legislation would update existing law to 
take into account advances in and the popularity of wireless 
telecommunications since enactment of the 1996 Act. The legislation 
would do so in a manner consistent with both a previous, but vacated, 
FCC Order and with rate integration requirements applied to other more 
traditional telecommunication technology.
  I look forward to addressing the issue of rate integration for 
wireless services as part of the legislative effort to reauthorize the 
Telecommunications Act of 1996.

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