Competitive Carriers Will Come to Table in Incentive Auction, CCA Chief Says
The Competitive Carriers Association remains optimistic that small carriers will be active in the TV incentive auction, President Steve Berry said. Berry predicted the forward auction, in which carriers will bid for licenses, will start in May or June, in comments streamed from the CCA spring conference in Nashville. “A number of policy wins were essential to make this auction actually a reality for smaller carriers and many of our members,” Berry said. The smaller license sizes, spectrum reserve and mandated interoperability in the FCC’s rules were CCA priorities, he said. “CCA members are a critical part of the mobile infrastructure system.”
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Gaining more access to spectrum for CCA members will remain a “top priority” for the group, though it's not CCA’s only priority, Berry said. “One important focus for us now is the IoT … which is a major topic here at this show” (see 1604130045). Customers, whether urban, suburban or rural, “want access to all that this new technology and opportunity has to offer,” he said.
CCA members face some challenges, Berry said. “We still face providing state-of-the-art technologies and a robust connectivity to all our customers,” he said. “We need to create and ensure an open ecosystem for inclusion of all carriers. Simply put, connectivity is a quality of life issue. It is desired across all geographic territories and across all parts of society.”
Access to spectrum, licensed and unlicensed, is critical for small carriers as the IoT grows, Berry said. “It’s absolutely in the public’s best interest to make sure such spectrum is available as soon as possible for mobile data.” Interoperability of devices is also critical to the IoT, he said. “Your customers need, and deserve, access to the latest technologies.”
Berry said “many, many” CCA members depend on continued USF support to serve some of the most remote areas of the U.S. The FCC should “immediately release” funds owed to carriers from phase I of the USF mobility fund, he added. “They built their networks, they met all their compliance requirements and they haven’t been paid for their efforts,” he said. “It’s holding up broadband buildout in many areas and the smaller carriers are in a jam.”
The CCA data services hub is critical, Berry said. "One or two large carriers should not dictate the terms of connectivity for the entire wireless marketplace." The CCA device hub "makes it possible for customers, consumers to access the interoperable devices they want and need to work on the same networks that the data services hub was designed to serve," he said. "A device maker should not decide who will compete for a customer or who will lose a customer."