Appeals Court Upholds FCC’s Data Roaming Rules

The following statement can be attributed to Carri Bennet, RTG’s General Counsel:

The Rural Telecommunications Group, Inc. (RTG) applauds the decision released earlier today by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upholding the Federal Communications Commission’s Data Roaming Rules in a unanimous 3-0 decision. The Court made it clear that Title III of the Communications Act of 1934 ”plainly empowers the Commission to promulgate the data roaming rule.” Verizon Wireless’ repeated efforts over the last two year to assert anything else have been an exercise in futility. In a last ditch effort to influence the Court and delay its decision, Verizon Wireless sent a letter to the Court noting that the United States Supreme Court had granted certiorari to hear City of Arlington v. FCC, 2012 WL 4748083 (U.S. Oct. 5, 2012(No. 11-1545), a case seeking to determine the reach of an agency’s Chevron authority. The Court determined that the outcome of the Supreme Court case would have no bearing on its decision because Congress gave the FCC the clear statutory authority it needed to promulgate the Data Roaming Rules under Title III of the Communications Act, and therefore the Court did not need to apply Chevron. RTG is grateful that justice has been served and the American consumers have come out the clear winners in this completely unnecessary legal battle.

About RTG – Headquartered in Washington, DC, the Rural Telecommunications Group, Inc. (RTG) is a trade association representing rural wireless carriers who each serve less than 100,000 subscribers. RTG’s members have joined together to speed delivery of new, efficient and innovative telecommunications technologies to consumers in remote and underserved communities. ruraltelecomgroup.org @RTGwireless