Provision of Roaming Services by Commercial Mobile Radio Service Providers

The Federal Communications Commission adopts a Second Report and Order and Third Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding the offering of roaming services by commercial mobile radio service providers. The Third Notice of Proposed Rulemaking portion of this decision is summarized elsewhere in this edition of the Federal Register. The Second Report and Order expands the scope of the Commission's existing ``manual'' roaming rule. As a result of this action, cellular, broadband personal communications services and certain specialized mobile radio licensees must, as a condition of their licenses, provide service upon request to any individual roamer whose handset is technically capable of accessing their networks. This decision is needed to ensure that customers of all providers competing in the mass market for two-way, real-time, interconnected switched voice service have an equal opportunity to obtain manual roaming service if they are using technically compatible equipment, thus promoting competition.