The U.S. Federal Communications Commission head has for the time being halted a plan to revise the regulations governing the rights of the US small wireless phone carriers to “roam” on their larger rivals networks.

The issue is whether to allow carriers to roam in areas where they own airwaves but have not built networks. Kevin Martin, Chairman of the FCC had proposed a guarantee to carriers who possess unused spectrum to continue roaming for 4 years before losing those rights.

However, Martin withdrew said proposal due to an agreement on this issue not being reached at a meeting with five FCC commissioners.

In a telephone conversation with Reuters, Martin said: “At this point, I’m not sure I see a consensus for how the commission ends up addressing it.”

This review of the rules by the FCC comes from an order adopted last year which reaffirmed the rights of small carriers to roam the likes of Verizon Wireless, and AT&T.

Source — Reuters via informationweek