Mandatory access for fixed wireless providers may be dead issue for the year in the Congress and at the White House, says BOMA, but the effort is alive at the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). While BOMA has not yet seen the actual text, the FCC’s Wireless Bureau is circulating a proposal to provide for mandatory access for fixed wireless providers. That they have released such a proposal comes as no surprise, BOMA maintains, as the Bureau has served more as an advocate for the fixed wireless industry than a partial observer in these proceedings. What is a surprise, however, is late word that the proposal may seek to establish special rules for building owners that have made an investment in a building local exchange company such as Broadband Office or Allied Riser Corp.
The Wireless Bureau and the other advocates of mandatory access want to move such an item at a meeting of the FCC to take place at in August or September. The rush to do so is that Commissioner Ness may need to step down in October when her term expires if Congress has not acted to reconfirm her as requested by the White House.
BOMA and the Real Access Alliance have a series of meetings set at the FCC to continue to outline why mandatory access is unnecessary, unmanageable and unconstitutional.
Based on a report from BOMA’s Potomac Currents
