Time for FCC To Finalize Order on Dedicated Mobility Fund, Clyburn Says
LAS VEGAS -- The FCC should wrap up an order creating a dedicated USF mobility fund, Commissioner Mignon Clyburn urged, speaking Thursday at the Rural Wireless Association conference at the CTIA convention.
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Industry officials said the FCC had committed to wrap up work on the fund in 2014, but that never happened. “Four years after a bipartisan commission decided to have a dedicated mobility fund, it has yet to come to fruition,” Clyburn said. “Instead, the funding for competitive [eligible telecom carriers] is frozen at 60 percent of the 2011 support, with no guarantee any of the support is going to extend broadband, or that the support is necessary to maintain service.”
It's time for the FCC to act on the mobility fund, Clyburn said: “We need to create a dedicated mobility fund, and ensure that all areas of our nation have service. It is time to ensure that funding directly to mobile providers extracts the most value for each dollar of universal service spent, and it is time for consumers in unserved areas to have service that most of us take for granted.”
Clyburn told the rural carriers that she understands that competition is critical. “Consumers benefit the most when markets are robustly competitive because that most often leads to lower prices and better quality products and service,” she said.
Competitive Carriers Association President Steve Berry said he agrees with Clyburn on the mobility fund. "Competitive carriers provide service to hard-to-reach areas, and sometimes may be the only provider in an area," Berry said Thursday. "It is absolutely critical for future support to recognize and protect existing investment in rural wireless services, while making support available to expand mobile broadband networks nationwide. A dedicated ongoing mobility fund should reflect these values, and I strongly urge the FCC to place support for mobile broadband on equal footing with support for fixed."
Clyburn also said the FCC is trying to offer licenses in its spectrum auctions that are geographically small and could appeal to smaller carriers. For example, in the incentive auction, the agency is offering spectrum in 416 partial economic area licenses, she said: “It is important that our wireless auctions attract carriers who may have a smaller service footprint and less capital than nationwide providers but have a strong desire to acquire more spectrum so they can better serve their markets.”
Rural carriers have no choice but to adopt LTE, said Russ Lipinski, president of the Associated Carrier Group, who also spoke at the summit Thursday. The group is a buying co-op for smaller carriers. “LTE is a driver,” Lipinski said. “It’s going to push everything else out.” Carriers without LTE will soon find themselves in the prepaid business or out of the wireless business altogether, he said. “LTE is a hard, hard fact of life.”