The Right Way to Regulate

In the sea of acronyms that is Washington's regulatory world, it's easy to become disenchanted with all the agencies, commissions, committees, working groups and think tanks, making regulatory decisions in what sometimes seems like a bubble. But there is a defining line between superfluous bureaucracy and effective governance, especially in a heavily-regulated industry like telecommunications. Often the difference is as simple as bringing all players to the table on an issue and allowing them to work out a commonsense solution.

The Commercial Mobile Service Alert Advisory Committee, or CMSAAC, is just the kind of working group that might sound like just another D.C. bureaucracy, especially when you hear it's the product of a legislative mandate. But in fact, it has been very successful at achieving its main purpose -- developing technical standards and protocols to help wireless carriers voluntarily transmit emergency alerts to their subscribers. What had once been a dicey and difficult issue with its share of controversies is now ready for rulemaking at the FCC, and CMSAAC was the key factor in shaping consensus.

Established as part of the Warning, Alert and Response Network Act (WARN Act), enacted by Congress in late 2006, CMSAAC consists of technical experts from the Commission, Public Safety, the wireless industry, and handset vendors. TIA is represented on the CMSAAC by Cheryl Blum, from Alcatel-Lucent. The beauty of such a forum is that it can leverage the Commission’s resources and bring together the best and brightest minds to develop technically feasible standards and protocols, prior to the issuance of a mandate.

And in that environment, CMSAAC produced results, voting last week to approve recommendations that set forth the requirements, procedures, and protocols for the transmission of emergency alerts by wireless carriers. It's a technically feasible, effective solution that brings public safety to the carriers. Not all public safety decisions are made so reasonably, with input from all parties in equal measure. When the FCC issues its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on wireless emergency alerts in the next week, it will be from a very strong starting point. That's the right way to craft any regulation, by balancing public good with what's technically feasible.

CMSAAC isn't just another example of TIA and its members working closely with public safety groups, it's a standard by which future collaborations should be measured.

Thank you,
Grant Seiffert
President,
TIA