Worldcall Interconnect, Inc. v. FCC

In Worldcall Interconnect Inc v FCC, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit denied Worldcall Interconnect Inc's petition for review of an FCC Order. The court held that (1) even if the FCC erred when deciding that the automatic roaming rule didn't apply, that error was harmless and, therefore, 47 C.F.R. § 20.12(e) should be applied; (2) "[t]heFCC's interpretation of 47 C.F.R. $ 20.12, that it was the service being supplied by the host carrier, rather than the home carrier, that determined whether the automatic roaming rule applied" was permissible; and (3) because a competitor has no obligation to tie their roaming rates to that of an inferior, the commercial reasonableness decision is affirmed. Roaming services are regulated by the FCC. These transactions concern three different entities: the cellphone user, the home service provider, and the host service provider. The cell phone user pays for cell service through a home provider.