LAS VEGAS-Rural Cellular Association leadership is preparing legislation, tentatively called the Rural Cellular Telecom Bill, to be introduced this summer in Congress that it says could relieve its members from regulations designed around and intended for large national carriers.
The group plans to ask Congress to require the Federal Communications Commission to take into account the impact of legislation specifically on small and rural carriers and rural communities, such as those served by RCA members. The legislation would not automatically forbear anything consistent with other telecom legislation, but would allow impact determinations to be made case by case.
RCA said it plans to present its ideas to potential sponsors during the next month. RCA said once it receives a commitment from a sponsor, language based on the group’s concept paper can be developed so it can be brought to Congress.
Outgoing RCA President Jackie Dukes told RCR at the group’s annual meeting here, “We don’t want to be treated special but just have it recognized that issues that seem big and important for large carriers can be overly burdensome for small carriers to implement.”
For example, a rural Kansas carrier with 10,000 customers would be overly burdened by a million-dollar CALEA implementation mandate that might not be necessary in that market. RCA says the cost/benefit analysis just doesn’t make sense in some cases. Members would have to pass on the financial burden to their customers, making it difficult to compete with large carrier pricing.
Dukes explained, “The added element is that we go to church with our customers. We drive past them on the road. Our kids play soccer together. They expect something different from us.” He said the FCC can’t expect the small carrier to treat its customers like AT&T Corp. does because they are different. “We just want to be able to look at what makes sense.”
Rural carriers want it understood that they have limited capital resources and need to consider how the money is best spent by what is important to their customers.
The effort began when RCA’s Dukes, incoming President Tommie Morgan, Board Member John McMillan and RCA Government and Regulatory Committee Chair Scott Parker took a trip in January to Washington. The group was encouraged by members of Congress to bring a proposal to help rural carriers be competitive in dealing with telecom mandates.
“We want the FCC to recognize that rural carriers are important parts of their communities and allocation of resources should not be directed by regulatory policies that are intended for the largest companies in the world,” said Parker.
“If small companies are important in the larger picture it is important that they are able to compete and to have local competition or they will be squeezed out,” he said.
Tom Smith, RCA’s legislative advisor said, “The amount of FCC regulation is negatively impacting small and rural carriers. Cumulatively it is all very burdensome. To begin this discussion of cumulative impact of FCC regulation will not only be good for rural cellular carriers but for the wireless industry as a whole. If this bill goes through, it will have a dramatic impact on how the FCC does business.”
The proposed regulation would not require the FCC to apply the standard to larger carriers, added Smith. The designation would be based on what constitutes a small or rural carrier as stated in RCA bylaws.
“If it was determined that a particular regulation had a negative impact on a community, a waiver would be granted, giving the FCC additional options for how it treats small and rural carriers,” Smith said.
“Congress would be saying to the FCC, ‘You are not implementing the law the way we created it-there are too many mandates,’ ” said Smith. This would provide Congress with more legislative oversight.
“This is a huge success for RCA to take this initiative-a bold courageous move-the result of understanding how they are being impacted and that they are unwilling to sit still and watch it happen,” concluded Smith.
Dukes said, “It shows we are grown up and able to bring a message to Congress so that they recognize the needs of small carriers and we can allow customers and the market in general to tell us what is important.”
However, Tom Wheeler, Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association president, in his address to RCA, cautioned he did not think it would be advantageous to split up the industry into segments.
Alluding to the pending legislation, Wheeler noted, “If there is going to be an effort to say that rural carriers deserve special treatment, then competition [within the wireless industry] will come under scrutiny.”
He concluded, “Wireless is the most vibrantly competitive sector of the telecom industry. We need to all hang in there together.”
Parker responded, “While [RCA] has much common interest in CTIA, the large companies-big companies-are the major constituents. It is up to RCA on some levels to make their own points themselves.
“The intention is not to segment the market-just recognize that CTIA is not in a position to carry this issue for us.”
