AT&T: FCC Can Act Now to Boost Tribal Communications

AT&T VP of Federal Regulatory Joan Marsh said that the Federal Communications Commission's inaction on a petition is the only thing standing in the way of its provision of high quality wireless service to the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

According to AT&T, the FCC has yet to act on its petition to transfer to AT&T the eligible telecommunications carrier designation from Alltel, from which AT&T bought wireless licenses from Verizon in June 2010. In granting that transfer, Marsh pointed out, "the FCC also specifically sought to ensure the continuity of high quality, low cost wireless services to the Oglala Sioux Tribe on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, which also fell within the service area of the assets acquired by AT&T. AT&T committed to provide those services, dependent upon transfer of the appropriate eligible telecommunications carrier (ETC) designation." AT&T says it has been providing low cost service to the reservation without Universal Service Support since the deal closed, but needs the FCC to act on the petition so it can receive funding and continue to do so in what is a high-cost area. Marsh said that if that funding is not forthcoming, "these low cost services will be discontinued...The extraordinary delay in approving [the petition] imperils the availability of the very wireless services that the Commission seeks to encourage and support through the Native Nations items,"