FTC won't drop 4G probe - Timing to be a determinant in its ruling
Published:Wednesday | December 29, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Mark Titus, Business Reporter
The Fair Trading Commission (FTC) says it will not close its investigation against mobile giant Digicel Jamaica regarding the promotion of its WiMAX residential offering as 4G technology, notwithstanding its authentication by global overseer International Telecommunications Union (ITU).
"If the standard of the ITU says that what Digicel has can be called 4G, in principle, we would have no issue with it at this point," FTC executive director, David Miller, told Wednesday Business.
"But we will not conclude our investigations, as we just received a response from Digicel last week; so our investigation remains open."
Quizzed as to whether the date of the ITU endorsement of WiMAX as 4G, which came three months after Digicel began its 4G broadband promotions, could be a factor in the investigations, Miller signalled yes, but said it would not be the only factor.
"It can be another point of consideration," he said. "The ITU release was in early December, but the practice was going on before that; but we will have to look on the whole scenario before we can come to a conclusion."
The competition regulator would not speak to the other aspects of investigation, saying only that his office was awaiting "something official" from the ITU.
LIME, which offers 3G broadband, lodged its complaint with the FTC in October, citing comments attributed to Sanjay Acharya, chief media relations and public information officer at the ITU, that "no IMT-Advanced (4G technology) is being implemented as yet", with early 2011 given as a likely timeline.
LIME, on that basis, declared that WiMAX was not 4G and that Digicel, which began marketing its broadband service in September after pouring at least J$2 billion of capital into its build out, insisted its rival "does not currently offer a 4G service" and was, therefore, engaged in false and misleading advertising.
The ITU's position changed after its annual World Radiocommunication Seminar held in Geneva, where it was determined that 'LTE-Advanced' and 'WirelessMAX-Advanced' should be accorded the official designation of IMT-Advanced.
"As the most advanced technologies currently defined for global wirelessmobile broadband communications, IMT-Advanced is considered as 4G," it said in a December 6 press release.
"Although, it is recognised that this term, while undefined, may also be applied to the forerunners of these technologies, LTE and WiMAX, and to other evolved 3G technologies providing a substantial level of improvement in performance and capabilities with respect to the initial third generation systems now deployed."
In response, Richard Fraser, head of Legal and Regulatory for Digicel Jamaica, said the ITU ruling vindicates his company and reinforces its position that "Digicel's 4G Broadband is the fastest wireless broadband available in Jamaica."
Digicel defines its technology as 'WiMAX 16E', the same it says as that offered by Sprint, P1 and Yota. All three firms, as well as AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon have increased the marketing of their 4G offering since the ITU release.
"Having submitted our response to the FTC, we now await hearing from them once they consider our submission that WiMAX is classified as 4G, as indicated by the ITU," Frazer said.
LIME Jamaica has chosen not to comment, saying on Tuesday it would speak only after the FTC shares its findings on its complaint.