Summary

Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Federal Communications Commission's (FCC) new rule on commercial mobile radio services interconnection and resale obligations. GAO found that: (1) the transitional rule would require all cellular and broadband personal communications services and certain specialized mobile radio providers to permit unlimited resale of their services and eliminate an exception to an existing rule which permitted cellular licensees under some circumstances to restrict resale by their licensed cellular competitors; (2) the rule would sunset 5 years after the last group of licenses for allotted personal communications services spectrum is awarded; and (3) FCC complied with applicable requirements in promulgating the rule.