The Prepaid Press - April 15, 2008 - (Page 7)

PREPAID BUSINESS April 15 · 2008 - 7 has proposed a Bill to set up uniform requirements for wireless customer service addressing ETF. The wireless industry has been more receptive to the Pryor Bill as it would be regulatory in nature and would explicitly repeal a provision in a 1993 law giving states limited oversight of wireless carriers, thereby avoiding a patchwork of different regulatory requirements. The House of Representatives has also seen recent legislative drafts of a consumer wireless bill. House telecom subcommittee Chairman Edward Markey (D-Mass.) has proposed a • One CLEC serving customers in 82% of the nation’s Zip Codes at the end of June 2007. About 98% of United States households resided in those Zip Codes. Multiple carriers reported providing local telephone service in the major population centers of the country. • The 28.7 million lines reported by CLECs is about 18% of the 163.2 million total end-user switched access lines reported for the end of June 2007. • CLECs reported 12.1 million (or 12%) of the 97.6 million lines that served residential end users and 16.6 million (or 25%) of the 65.6 million lines that served business, institutional, and government customers. The report applies to prepaid cellular phone providers and prepaid CLEC services alike. The full report is found at www.fcc.gov All wireless providers and resellers are well advised to keep on eye on Congress this year and re-evaluate implementing pro rata ETF clauses. bill that would similarly address ETF and other consumer issues but allow states to retain some power as part of a new national regulatory framework of consumer safeguards. Needless to say, this bill has met resistance from the wireless industry and will likely be a target for their lobbying efforts. However, much of the congressional focus has been on the FCC’s handling of these issues and consumer complaints. “Without an effective FCC enforcement program, consumers are left out in the cold. Moreover, the GAO’s report makes clear that any legislation establishing national consumer protection rules for the wireless market must have meaningful, supplementary enforcement at the state level,” stated Markey. “Unfortunately, solely relying upon FCC enforcement for consumer protection is utterly unreasonable in light of the GAO’s findings.” A legislative shake-up of the FCC’s handling of wireless complaints and regulation is clearly on the horizon. It is a question of when and how. All wireless providers and resellers are well advised to keep on eye on Congress this year and re-evaluate implementing pro rata ETF clauses. 4. FCC Spectrum Auction And the Winners Are…. WASHINGTON, DC (March 21, 2008) The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) airwave auction has now concluded, leaving two very big winners: AT&T and Verizon. The FCC auction, previously projected to reach $15 billion in bids, actually attracted a record $19.6 billion in total bids. At stake were roughly 252 airwave licenses that will be available in February 2009 when television broadcasters switch to digital signaling. Until now these bids were strictly anonymous. The winners: Verizon Wireless who pledged $9.36 billion for 25 licenses in the auction, and AT&T with a $6.6 billion pledge for 227 licenses. Competitive bids were fierce as Google, Inc. and 211 other companies battled AT&T and Verizon Wireless for these airwave licenses. This announcement effectively ends all speculation that Google, Inc., the search engine giant, will be directly entering the wireless business. However, expect Google to push the FCC for more ground on use of “white space” unlicensed spectrum. Serious concern was raised by consumer groups that this auction failed to attract new wireless competitors that could effectively challenge the current dominant wireless carriers. A small victory for new entrants was won by Frontier Wireless, LLC, a subsidiary of EchoStar Communications, Inc., which won nearly enough licenses to create a nationwide footprint. However, this was overshadowed by Verizon Wireless’ acquisition of nearly every license in the C-block spectrum, a consumer friendly spectrum that encompasses approximately one-third of the airwaves at auction and which is subject to “open access” provisions of the FCC. The C block covers every state except Alaska. The C-block airwaves were highly sought as they are ideal for Mobile Web access, as well as high speed data downloads, and being able to traverse long-distances and pass through walls. Still at auction is the D-block spectrum, a public safety airwave that was placed at auction with a $1.3 billion minimum bid price, which yielded in only a $472 million competitive bid. The FCC is currently evaluating whether it will “de-link” or unbundle the remainder of those airwaves from the rest of the auction. Attorney Edward A. Maldonado is the president of the Regnum Group, Inc. and the Maldonado Group. He can be reached at eam@maldonado-group.co 3. FCC Report On Local Telephone Competition – CLECs & Mobile Gain Some Ground WASHINGTON, DC (March 20, 2008) The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released new data on local telephone service competition in the United States. This bi-annual report tallies all basic information from all incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) and competitive local exchange carriers (CLECs) about their local telephone service. The report also includes information from all facilities-based mobile telephony providers who are required to report about their subscribers, pursuant to the FCC’s local telephone competition and broadband data gathering program (under FCC Form 477). Data and statistics recently released reflect the market as of June 30, 2007. Pertinent to prepaid mobile and CLEC are the following reported trends: • End-user customers obtained local telephone service by utilizing approximately 134.5 million ILEC switched access lines; 28.7 million CLEC switched access lines; and 238.2 million mobile telephony service subscriptions as of the end of June 2007. • Of the 28.7 million CLEC end-user switched access lines reported, 7.7 million lines were provided over coaxial cable connections. This represents about 70% of the 11.0 million end-user switched access lines that CLECs reported providing over their own local loop facilities. • Mobile telephony service providers reported 238.2 million subscribers as of the end of June 2007, which is 21 million, or 10%, more than June 2007. About 7% of these subscribers were billed by mobile telephony service resellers. http://www.fcc.gov http://www.wcgltd.com http://www.wcgltd.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The Prepaid Press - April 15, 2008

The Prepaid Press - April 15, 2008 Motorola to Split Mobile Payments: The Saga Continues Contents The Retske Report: Election Year and Woody Hayes Regulatory Rundown: 2008 First Quarter Mobile Update 5 Minutes with Mark Herrington tppEXPO’08 Spotlight New Handsets Announced at CTIA Prepaid Wireless in Brief Prepaid Wireless Roundup Virgin Mobile Reports Earnings of 6 Cents Movida Files Chapter 11 LiveWire Mobile Acquires Groove Mobile Boost Selects Vesta for Transactions RadioShack to Offer Trumpet Mobile Service Virgin Offers New Pay as You Go Plans Book Review: Webster’s New World Telecom Dictionary Management Changes at IDT Spot Rates Calling Cards in Brief The State of Prepaid Technology: Productive Coexistence FTC Asks Court to Halt Prepaid Calling Card Scam Louisiana Community Mulls Tax on Prepaid Cards Pactolus Wins VON Magazine Award iBasis Lowers Pakistan Rate for Pingo The Legal Line Biometric Update: Keep Your Shirt On AccountNow Ends Upfront Fees Evolution Benefits Acquires SmartFlex Payments in Brief NetSpend to Offer Bill Payment and Top-up Union Bank Introduces Contactless Card Ingenico Announces Development Kit Prepaid 101: Stupid Card Tricks PLS Offering Walk-In Bill Payment Spend Gift Cards ASAP Credit Card Breach at Hannaford Bros. NACS Withdraws Opposition to Tobacco Bill Study Finds Gift Card Packaging Increases Sales NACS Names International VP Inflatable Display Provides Inexpensive Signage Retail Focus in Brief Our Advertisers Contact Us

The Prepaid Press - April 15, 2008

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