Back in April, we reported on an FCC decision mandating that all facilities-based providers of “commercial mobile data service” (CMDS) make available automatic data roaming to other such providers (with some exceptions). As part of that decision, the Commission also established a procedure by which folks could complain about possible violations of the new data-roaming obligation. The data-roaming complaint process is in large measure identical to the process for voice-roaming complaints which has been on the books for some time. (The Commission figured that it was more efficient for all concerned to utilize the same procedures for both types of complaint – particularly since it’s entirely possible that some complainants may have both voice- and data-roaming issues to raise. In that latter case, the complaint process will allow such complainants to initiate a single proceeding, rather than having to file two separate complaints.)
The new CMDS rules became effective last June . . . except for the complaint process, which had to be run through OMB’s Paperwork Reduction Act drill. But OMB signed off on the complaint process last month and, with that milestone now duly noted in the Federal Register, the complaint process, too, has become effective.
