RCA: Lobbyists outline state of affairs for rural carriers

LAS VEGAS-Universal Service Fund concerns and access to 700 megahertz spectrum topped the list of legislative concerns for Rural Cellular Association members during a discussion of the organization’s Washington, D.C., lobbying efforts. Members were given an update on the status of various issues during a morning session at the RCA annual conference here.
With Democrats having taken leadership of both houses of Congress, Carol McDaid of lobbying firm Capitol Decisions Inc. noted, “in some ways we have had to start this education and policy building all over again” as the association tries to familiarize lawmakers with its priorities and the roles that its members play in rural communities.
McDaid said that the Federal Communications Commission could decide to institute a cap on USF funds, possibly placing a temporary freeze on carriers’ USF fund allowance at the amount of money that they receive in any given state, theoretically forcing carriers to spread out their USF funds. The association would oppose that, she said-both because temporary caps may end up being difficult to remove and because the economics of such a scenario “just won’t work.”
Art Prest of Prest & Associates said that rural carriers also may face new requirements from the FCC on the accuracy of E911 locating, some of which could be nearly impossible to meet with either GSM or CDMA technology. He also said that carriers might have to choose whether to opt in to providing emergency alerts by late 2008.
Prest also said that the association is doing its best to make sure that rural carriers have a realistic shot at acquiring some of the eagerly awaited 700 MHz spectrum. RCA has been working to make sure that, instead of large spectrum blocks that rural carriers could neither afford nor would be interested in, at least one of the expected spectrum blocks is broken up into small license areas of as many as 734 licenses, Prest said.